The figure of the Russian opposition in exile Leonid Volkov has the Russian president Vladimir Putin a devastating miscalculation in view of the war in Ukraine. “Putin has clearly shortened his term,” said Volkov, a confidant of the opposition politician, who was arrested in Russia. Alexei Navalny, on Wednesday in an interview with the AFP news agency. It is obvious that Putin “miscalculated” in the Ukraine war.
The invasion of the neighboring country was doomed to fail, Volkov said. By making that decision, Putin “dramatically reduced the likelihood of a scenario where he simply stays in the Kremlin until he dies”, just as the former head of state “planned”, Volkov said on the sidelines of the Geneva Committee on Human Rights and Democracy. Dome.
Dissatisfaction among Russian elites
So far, Putin has been reasonably successful in “selling his propaganda narrative” about the war in Ukraine through Russian state media, Volkov said. However, Russian elites are already “very unhappy with the economic devastation, victims, restrictions and sanctions”. He hopes that “they will think about a regime change, a system change.”
Volkov urged the international community to contact Putin’s “inner circle” to “propose some security guarantees in case they decide to change sides”.
Navalny’s family
IT expert Volkov is one of the most important confidants of prominent Kremlin critic Navalny, who has been imprisoned in a penal camp east of Moscow since early last year. A poison attack was carried out in Navalny, Russia in August 2020, for which he blames Putin. The Kremlin denies the accusation.
Volkov said he was confident that political change in Moscow would mean freedom for Navalny. “Navalny is Putin’s personal political prisoner,” he said. “It’s up to Putin alone to decide whether to put him in prison or release him.”
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