Ukraine protesters confront those attending party at Russian Embassy

Protesters in support of Ukraine on Thursday night confronted visitors heading into the Russian embassy in Washington D.C. as the world marked the first anniversary of Moscow’s invasion.

The demonstration, a cross between a candlelight vigil and protest, was to mark the hour Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It was organized by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), an advocacy group for the Ukrainian American community.

The party at the Russian embassy was marking an early 20th century Russian military holiday. Lines of SUVs with diplomatic license plates were heading into the embassy as protestors demonstrated outside.

Those attending the embassy events were largely foreign military attachés serving in Washington. The event was to mark the “Defender of the Fatherland Day,” which commemorates a key military victory during the Russian civil war in 1918.

The Russian Foreign Ministry called it a “solemn evening” attended by “ambassadors and military attachés of friendly countries, Russian and American journalists and compatriots.”

But the protesters shouted “shame on Russia, shame on you!” at the cars driving through the embassy gates where attendees alighted closer to the entrance.

“This is the ultimate battle of good vs. evil, of democracy vs. authoritarianism. Democracy and Ukraine will prevail,” Michael Sawkiw, executive vice president of the UCCA, told The Hill outside the embassy.

Passing cars honked in support of the modest group of about two dozen protesters. Those who spoke with The Hill shared their deep connections to the yearlong events.

“I’m Russian; I’ve lived in the U.S. since I was 21,” said Olga Fetisova, now 38. She was on the phone early in the morning in the U.S. with her father in Russia on Feb. 24 when the full-scale invasion began.

“My dad was sitting in his car, crying and saying, ‘This is the largest tragedy of my life,’ not the death of his parents, or being sick or anything like this, this is the largest tragedy for him.”

Fetisova has family across Ukraine: in Kyiv and the southern city of Mykoliav. Her aunt — her father’s sister — refuses to speak to her brother in Russia.

“The family connection has ruptured. It’s tragic,” she said. “Even though he’s very much against [the war], but the hurt that has been caused by Russia is too great.”

Inside the embassy, about 100 people attended the event, according to one attendee who requested anonymity to speak freely. The attendees included officials from countries that have not cut ties with Russia — including a number of countries from Africa and Asia.

Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov gave a short speech and an apparent vodka toast to the Russian armed forces and all the armed forces represented in the room.

Antonov, in his remarks, sought to connect a key meeting between the U.S. and then-Soviet Union on the Elbe River in 1945 that marked a turning point toward the end of World War II in an effort to express optimism.

“It is our hope that the spirit of the Elbe will not just remain a symbol in relations, but will actually help us improve the situation in the world,” Antonov said in remarks published by the foreign ministry.

Some of Russia’s supporters in the embassy represented countries that had, earlier in the day, abstained or rejected a resolution passed by the United Nations General Assembly calling for Russia’s full military withdrawal from all of Ukraine’s territory.

Thirty-two countries abstained, including China, India, Pakistan, South Africa and South Asian countries including Bangladesh and Vietnam. Six countries joined Russia in rejecting the resolution, including Belarus, which served as a staging ground for Russian troops to cross Ukraine’s northern border in the early hours of Feb. 24.

Olga K., 42, stood outside the Russian embassy wrapped in a Belarussian flag and holding handmade Ukrainian flags. She asked for her last name to be withheld over concerns for safety.

She has become more politically active over the past three years following the 2020 elections in Belarus where President Alexander Lukashenko instituted a brutal crackdown of pro-Democracy advocates protesting presidential election results that were widely rejected as fraudulent.

“I’m part of Belarussian diaspora, and we are the ones — in 2020 when we struggled with what was happening in Belarus, we asked Ukrainians and they helped us a lot,” Olga K. said. She credited the Ukrainian diaspora with helping Belarussians in the U.S. organize and advocate for U.S. sanctions against Belarussian officials found to have committed human rights crimes.

“I wanted to show support for our brothers the Ukrainians.”

The Russian embassy in Washington is a hulking block of a building that is located north of Georgetown. Across the street, private homes bear pro-Ukrainian images with messages, flags, and lights in blue and yellow condemning Russia’s war and occupation of Ukrainian territory.

In April 2022, a group of activists projected a giant Ukrainian flag on the Russian embassy.

That same activist group is planning on Friday evening to project the diary of a woman from the Ukrainian village of Bucha; in the diary, the woman documented the first week of the war under shelling and bombardment from Russian forces before she managed to escape to Kyiv and then take refuge in Poland.

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