‘It’s an attack on everyone’: Russian activists under increasing pressure for opposing war on Ukraine

Russians have woken up in a different country, one seeking internal enemies to blame for the country's descent into economic isolation and hardship

• Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates

Even before Vladimir Putin declared a hunt for national traitors" and a fifth column" over his invasion of Ukraine this week, anti-war activists had faced increasing pressure, including police torture, intimidation tactics, work dismissals and other threats.

In a police station in Moscow earlier this month, an anti-war protester managed to record her own beating as officers threatened her for taking part in peaceful demonstrations that have already seen nearly 15,000 people detained.