Jailed Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny has called for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, an independent investigation into war crimes and recognition of Ukraine’s 1991 borders, including the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014 .
In the past, Navalny had been criticized by Ukrainian activists, among others, for not condemning the annexation of Crimea clearly enough in their eyes.
“Continuing the war is just hysterical impotence, ending it is a strong step,” Navalny said on Twitter shortly before the first anniversary of the Russian invasion. The team of opposition activists held in the penal camp published 15 theses on Monday.
Navalny wants a change of power
Russian President Vladimir Putin “unleashed an unjust war of aggression against Ukraine under ridiculous pretexts”, among other things. The “real reasons” for the war are Russia’s political and economic problems, Putin’s desire to stay in power at all costs and his “obsession with his own historical legacy”.
Russia must leave Ukraine alone and allow it to develop the way its people want, demanded Navalny. After the end of the war, Ukraine must be compensated – which is possible only with a change of power in Russia and the end of the war. To do this, the “Putin regime and dictatorship would have to be abolished” and a parliamentary republic established.