The ‘walking man’ emoji has fast become one of the symbols used by those organising protests against Russia’s military actions in Ukraine
A demonstrator holds up a sign showing a Ukrainian flag with the face of Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler and text in English reading “Stop Putin” during a protest against Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. AFP
‘Let’s go for a walk’ or ‘The weather is great for a walk’ is part of Russia’s new code for those organising protests against Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.
Another way Russians are sending out messages for protests is the image of the Russian poet Pushkin, the number seven and rows of the ‘person walking’ emoji.
What do these codes mean and why have Russians resorted to using these? We take a look at it.
Why the use of code?
Russia has cracked down on dissent and barred its citizens from carrying out unauthorised protests since 2014. Those caught for breaking this rule can be put behind bars for 15 days, according to the law in Russia. Repeat offenders can receive prison sentences of up to five years.
It is because of this that organisers have resorted to using code to evade arrest.
People in Russia have told BBC that not using these codes could be extremely dangerous for those attending the protests. As per a BBC report, Niki, a blogger, described how a close friend’s brother had been detained twice — once for a few hours after attending a protest and a second time, for a whole week, for sharing the details with his friends on VK, Russia’s equivalent of Facebook.
Protests in face of Russia-Ukraine war
On 24 February, Vladimir Putin announced a ‘special military operation’ against Ukraine, and subsequently this offensive turned into a war with Russia shelling and dropping missiles on its neighbour for the past 16 days.
The action in Ukraine hasn’t been received well by many within Russia and there have been massive protests in different cities, asking Putin to stop the violence and chaos.
The Russian administration, however, has come down heavily on these protesters and in many cases, they have been arrested.
Police officers detain a demonstrator during a protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in Moscow. AFP
According to the OVD-Info monitoring group, more than 5,000 people were arrested in Russia while taking part in demonstrations against Moscow’s war against Ukraine in 69 cities on Sunday alone.
The group also reported that on 24 February, 1,900 protesters had been arrested.
Protesters have alleged that they have suffered beatings from truncheons or being shocked with stun guns after already being held down by officers.
As per a report published by UK-based newspaper The Independent, almost 14,000 people have been detained across Russia since the invasion began.
An image circulated on Russian social media to invite people for protests. The image shows Russian poet Pushkin, the number seven and rows of the “person walking” emoji. Image Courtesy: Instagram
Different codes used by Russians
The Pushkin code has been widely used by Russians in the recent days. A BBC report states that the code was simple to decode — a location (Pushkin Square, in Moscow), a time and a call to protest against the government’s actions.
The others often used is the ‘Let’s go for a walk’.
Russia’s crackdown on social media
Since the invasion began, Russia has clamped down on independent media outlets and blocked Facebook. Additionally, in response to the censoring in Russia, CNN has halted live broadcasting in the country, the BBC suspended its work there, and Tik Tok has barred livestreaming and new content produced by Russian creators.
Fearful of their social media being monitored, many Russians have also deleted their social media profiles on sites like Instagram altogether.
With inputs from agencies
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