bytebuster

ua_patriotic_war

bytebuster

Did any group in Russia oppose Crimean annexation?

If Yes, I have a few more questions:

• Were they political groups or non-political groups?
• What was their objective: only to oppose Putin, or, to show solidarity with Ukraine?
• Were they arrested?

Yes, there are such groups. The two major factions who oppose the illegal annexation of Crimea have the following agendas:

1. the 'peace faction' accuses Putin of not being Putin (cunning) enough.
   They oppose the armed invasion and forced annexation because they think that Russia could commit a covert operation to gradually "buy out" Crimea;
2. the 'war faction' accuses Putin of not being Putin (strong) enough.
   They wanted the full-scale armed invasion, including the use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine in case of our resistance.

Buy Out Crimea

There are Russian officials who have openly proposed to buy out Crimea.

One of those is Irina Khakamada, a member of "State Duma" of Russia and a leader of a "political party". In her interview to Radio Liberty (YouTube, transcript, both in Russian) she claimed that she suggested buying Crimea "even before Miloš Zeman did it in 2014".

To understand the idea, here's an English-language media outlet which seems to be highly favored to Russia. Its article dated back July 2014 and its title is self-explanatory: A simple solution to the crisis in Crimea: Let Russia buy it.

Unleash the Full-scale War

There is also a large faction of Russians who demanded "showing off the force" to deter the world from helping Ukraine because of fear of the war escalated to other countries of Europe:

Back in 2008, a notorious "Russian magazine", founded by the Kremlin's "political technologist" Gleb Pavlovskij, has published an article called Operation Clockwork Orange written by a self-styled "political scientist" Igor Zhadan. This article contained a pretty much detailed plan of a full-scale armed invasion to Ukraine and nuclear bombardment of European countries.

When Pavolvskij learned that his "plan" was not implemented, he switched to criticizing Putin:

Putin Loses Levers of Control Over the Russia

Aleksandr Dugin, a Russian Neo-Nazi, a close Putin's advisor and ideologist spoke for armed invasion and annexation of Ukraine well ten years before it happened.

Needless to say, Zhirinovskij has also advocated for first nuclear strike (YouTube, in Russian).

• What was their objective: only to oppose Putin, or, to show solidarity with Ukraine?
• Where they arrested?

Both 'peace' and 'war' factions actually support the regime's agenda. Their apparent "controversy" exists merely to control and skillfully channel the different opinions among the Russian population.

Most obviously, none of they are oppressed in any way.