The Murmansk branch of Vladimir Putin’s United Russia political party made the controversial decision of gifting meat grinders to mothers of soldiers killed in the war with Ukraine to celebrate International Women’s Day.

Over the past three years, the meat grinder has become a symbol of the Russian military’s high casualty rate in its assault on neighboring Ukraine, so the decision of the United Russia party in the northern Murmansk region to celebrate mothers whose sons died in the war by gifting them meat grinders on March 8 can be considered questionable, at best. Photos published on the party’s social media account last Wednesday show the executive secretary of the Polyarnye Zori United Russia branch, Anna Makhunova, alongside Maxim Chengaev, representative of the “Defenders of the Fatherland in the Murmansk Region Foundation” posing next to women who lost their sons in the war against Ukraine, smiling and holding meat grinders.

“The year 2025 was declared the Year of the Defender of the Fatherland by the President,” a message posted on the Polyarnye Zori United Russia social media page read. “Our duty and obligation is to surround the mothers of the Heroes of the Fatherland with attention and support not in words, but in deeds. We strive to be close to these strong women, share their experiences and provide assistance in difficult times. Dear mothers, thank you for your fortitude and the love that you put into raising your children. Their feat will forever remain in our memory, serving as an example of courage and patriotism for future generations.”

The photos went viral on Russian social media, attracting scathing comments accusing Russia’s leading party of being insensitive to the plight of the grieving mothers they were supposedly celebrating. However, members of the Polyarnye Zori United Russia branch pushed back against their critics, calling their interpretations of the gifts “inhumane and provocative,” and claiming that one of the women in the photos specifically asked for a meat grinder.

“The meat grinder was not part of the standard gift set, but one woman asked for it, and of course, party members could not refuse her,” Maxim Chengayev, mayor of Polyarnye Zori, told reporters.

To be even more convincing, members of the party revisited one of the women in the photos and recorded a video of her seemingly admitting to asking for a meat grinder, sort of…

“I wanted to buy the meat grinder for myself, but you gifted me one just in time,” the woman says in the short clip. “I asked you for it, in principle.”

The problem is that the party offered the same meat grinder to multiple women, as evidenced by the photos its members posted on social media, so their explanation doesn’t really check out. Perhaps it would have been simpler to just call the whole thing a misunderstanding, instead of trying to justify a gift that was obviously in poor taste, considering the current situation on the front lines.