FLASH
Shkruar nga Mykola Vorobieov
Volunteer fighters are a more direct approach, so the seizure of weapons against Vladimir Putin's regime in the Belgorod and Kursk regions has a noticeable effect...
With the re-election of Vladimir Putin to a new six-year term, the opportunity has arisen to explore the various ways in which the Russian opposition can continue to challenge him. Yulia Navalnaya, who has been the most prominent voice for the Russian political opposition since the death of her husband in mid-February, called on her countrymen to join the anti-Putin protests, forming long lines outside the centers of voting, exactly at noon on March 17.
Then they could vote for any candidate they wanted except Putin. Or make the ballot paper invalid, and write the name "Navalny" on it. But lining up a large crowd of people outside a polling station looks very good for someone called Putin who wants to show the world a nice picture of the huge "support" he enjoys.
This view was shared by other leaders in the Russian opposition, who questioned Navalnaya's approach. On the same day that Navalnaya called for a "noon protest against Putin", other Russian opposition leaders gathered in the Ukrainian capital Kiev.
The meeting was also attended by Rostyslav Murzagulov, businessman and activist, Mark Feygin, a popular Russian YouTube blogger, Ilya Ponomarev, a former member of the Russian Duma, and Ivan Tuytrin, co-founder of the Free Russia Forum platform, which often discusses how a future Russia should be after the overthrow of Putin's regime.
Also present at the meeting were leaders from the anti-Putin volunteer fighting brigades - the Freedom Legion of Russia (LSR), the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) and the Siberian Battalion - groups that have taken up arms against the Kremlin, aligning themselves with Kiev. .
The Russian Ministry of Defense has been forced to transfer troops from the front line to protect the Belgorod and Kursk border regions following operations by anti-Kremlin volunteer groups. In a memorandum signed at the end of the meeting, the participants called on their supporters to work politically, financially and most importantly militarily to topple the Putin regime.
While Yulia Navalnaya's anti-Putin protest movement brought no visible results, the volunteer-fighters' more direct approach, i.e. seizing weapons directly against the Putin regime in the Belgorod and Kursk regions, is having a visible effect.
Anti-Kremlin fighters have reportedly won some of the clashes against Russian troops, captured dozens of prisoners, and are now trying to negotiate a transition of power with local authorities. Their ultimate goal is to one day enter Moscow.
During this guerrilla resistance, they are gaining more and more popular Russian support and bringing to their side soldiers of the Russian Army who no longer wish to be part of Putin's strategy of using them only as "balloon fodder" ".
"There is no other way, except the overthrow of Putin's regime by military means" - said Ponomarev, among other things. In March 2014, Ponomarev was the only Russian lawmaker to vote against Moscow's illegal annexation of Crimea. To escape the tragic fate of many of Putin's critics, he immediately left the country.
Now he and his comrades are taking part in organizing the guerilla war against Moscow, inviting Russians to join the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to fight for a free Russia. And along with the desire for a democratic Russia, these fighters are also supportive of Ukraine's goals: the restoration of its full 1991 borders, a Russia-Ukraine peace treaty that would include the establishment of an international court for war criminals, as well as financial compensation for the victims of Russia's genocidal actions in Ukraine.
The fragmentation of the Russian opposition has traditionally been in favor of the Kremlin. The latter has used "divide and rule" tactics for decades, often accompanied by brutal murders of opposition leaders. For this reason, those gathered in Kiev called for closer cooperation with Russia's liberal opposition, including that led by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a Russian business tycoon, and the leaders of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK).
It remains to be seen how deep or what form this cooperation might take, and what Russia will look like when Putin's reign of terror ends. But Ukraine can and should be a welcoming country for anyone who wants to fight against Putin's totalitarian regime, and for anyone who respects Ukraine's independence and territorial integrity./ Adapted Pamphlet from "Kyiv Post"
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