Russian Rapper Ivan Vitalievich Petunin, also known as Walkie, recently took his own life after Putin’s announcement calling for the partial mobilization of the Russian army and the nonconsensual drafting of Russian citizens currently in the military reserves or those with past military experience. As an ex-soldier who fought on behalf of Russia in the past, and came home traumatized and plagued by perpetual mental illness that impedes every aspect of his life, Walkie did not want to fight and murder others for some imposed ideals that the rapper did not even share. So when his attempts for conscription deferment on behalf of his mental illness failed, Walkie’s protests soon turned him into a martyr. 

Nine days after Putin’s move towards eventual partial mobilization into Ukraine, Petinin’s body was found near a high-rise building in Krasnodar, leaving behind nothing but a video that he posted on his Telegram channel explaining why he did what he did and his beliefs in how the downfall of the country Russia will come about as a result of this war in place of an actual suicide note. In the video, Putin explains himself in tears, saying, “If you are watching this video, then I am no longer alive. I can’t take the sin of murder on my soul and I don’t want to. I am not ready to kill for any ideals. The late rapper also goes on to capitulate his theory that Putin’s claims of partial mobilization will very quickly evolve until a full-blown draft, which has since been proven true as “a chaotic rollout had led to men who did not fit the criteria being called into duty” (Consequence.net). 

Ivan Vitalievich Petunin was not the only one to take drastic measures to avoid conscription. Eddie Fu of Consequence reports that “nearly 200,000 Russians have fled to neighboring countries since Putin made the announcement,” and numerous others have released similar videos on social media that show men breaking their arms or setting themselves on fire, all to avoid active engagement in a war they do not believe in. 

Martyrs of the modern age, many Russians are dying or harming themselves to protest the invasion of a smaller country and a war they do not believe in, and instead fight for communal unity across country borders. In the aforementioned video, Putinin said it best: “I choose to remain in history forever. As a man who did not support what was happening, I am not ready to take up arms and kill my own kind.”