More than 40 local elected officials across Russia signed a two-sentence petition on Monday, ending with: “We demand Vladimir Putin to step down as president of the Russian Federation!”
The petition, promoted by opponents of the invasion of Ukraine, had no practical impact and it was ignored in the Russian state-controlled media. But it stands out in its very existence, showing that despite the Kremlin’s extraordinary repression of dissent, Ukraine’s counter-offensive successes have made opponents of President Vladimir V. Putin becomes newly encouraged – and his supporters are looking for someone else to blame.
Pro-war commentators and politicians have singled out the military leadership or senior officials, saying they have not waged the war with sufficient resolve and capacity, or delivered all of it. the truth for Mr. Putin. Longtime critics of the Kremlin have seized on that discord, and Russia’s failure ahead, to risk speaking out against Mr. Putin.
Ksenia Torstrem, member of the St. “We decided we needed to apply pressure from all sides.”
On Russian state television, which rarely criticizes the Kremlin, supporters of the war increasingly point the finger at what they see as a disorganized and uncoordinated invasion; others are raising ideas about petition for peace. In an interview, a senior lawmaker said in an interview that an “urgent adjustment” was needed to Russia’s troop withdrawal from more than a thousand square miles northeast of Ukraine.
In a phone interview Monday, that lawmaker, Konstantin F. Zatulin, a senior member of Congress in Putin’s United Russia party, set out the stakes.
Zatulin described the Russian military’s withdrawal as doing “very serious damage to the idea of this particular military operation”, using the term the Kremlin has applied to the war. However, he also warned that if criticism of the war effort from across political regions spirals out of control, it could lead to unintended consequences, citing the Russian Revolution of the year. 1917 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
“It should be emphasized that this criticism should not be overdone,” he said. “Otherwise, it could cause an uncontrollable reaction.”
Mr Zatulin stressed that any optimism among those hoping that Mr Putin would be ousted was “too soon”. Ukraine’s successes could prompt the Kremlin to escalate the war effort to try to bring Ukraine a decisive defeat, he said, though he added that he doesn’t expect this to mean “war.” nuclear war”.
“What some people now say is that the success of the Ukrainian side could lead to a decline that would eventually lead to the start of a real war,” Zatulin said. “Given that Russia really hasn’t used its full capabilities, there’s nothing else to do but demonstrate this force.”
There is no evidence that Mr. Putin’s power may be waning, and the Kremlin on Monday said the invasion would “continue until the initial objectives are achieved”.
However, there are still signs that Russia’s elite forces are feeling anxious about the withdrawal of troops and do not know how to proceed.
A member of the House of Representatives, Mikhail Sheremet, told According to a Russian news agency, the army will not succeed in Ukraine “unless fully mobilized”. It was a tacit criticism of Mr. Putin’s refusal to implement a nationwide draft, a step Russia’s supporters of the war effort escalate. long asked.
The leader of a pro-Putin party, Sergei Mironov, praise Air strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure hit targets on Sunday night leaving many parts of the country without electricity, but complained that they “should have been done in two to three months” before”.
And on the Telegram social network, where pro-war Russian military bloggers have gained huge followings, the complaints also continue. “Stop whining,” posted Yevgeny Poddubny, a war correspondent for Russian state television, referring to those who are worried about an escalating war.
But a senior member of the senate, Andrei Klimov, tried to counter voices calling for all-out war, telling reporters he did not see the “necessary” for a necessary campaign or declaration. martial law.
Opponents of Mr. Putin were heard by discord.
“Many people hope that something will eventually fall apart,” said Ivan I. Kurilla, a historian at the European University in St.Petersburg and a critic of Putin. “We may be wrong, maybe it’s not yet time, but since everyone has been waiting half a year for something to crack, the hope is strong.”
After the invasion in February, Mr. Putin led the strongest crackdown on dissent since coming to power two decades ago, signing a censorship law that introduced any Any criticism of the war effort – or even calling it a war rather than a “special military operation” – is a potential crime. Thousands of journalists, activists and others have fled the country, while nearly all the prominent independent news agencies that still operate inside Russia have been forced to close. Top opposition figures refuse to run away was jailed.
So when a group of city council members from St.Petersburg, Putin’s hometown, released a statement calling for the president to be removed from office for treason last week, it was a move. shocking in an environment where fear of imprisonment has fueled. almost implicitly criticized Putin.
Some of these council members now face fines for “discrediting” the military and government, but in Moscow, members of another city council have followed suit in calling for Mr. resignation. And over the weekend, Ms. Torstrem, a representative of St.Petersburg, wrote to dissident local delegates in a Telegram chat group: “I want to do something too.”
She said she was persuaded to speak out, both by colleagues who had published anti-Putin statements and by the military advances of the Ukrainian military. She also noted the unhappiness in the pro-Putin camp, saying it puts the Kremlin in a particularly fragile position.
Ms Torstrem, 38, helped draft the petition launched on Monday calling for Mr. Putin to step down. She was careful not to mention the war, to avoid hurting any of the signatories under the law that criminalizes criticism of it. The petition only says that Mr Putin’s actions “harm the future of Russia and its citizens”.
The petition already had 19 signers from Moscow and St.Petersburg when she announced it on Twitter on Monday morning. By the end of the day, the number had grown to more than 40, including city representatives from the remote Siberian city of Yakutsk and from Samara on the Volga.
She acknowledged that it is unclear how, in fact, the petition might help promote Mr. Putin’s resignation. But one signer, Vasily Khoroshilov, deputy city government in Moscow, said the idea was to send a message to Putin’s staunch opponents that they would gain the support of the Russian public.
“Radical patriots also began to doubt the correctness of the path they were following,” Khoroshilov, 38, said in a phone interview. “Some forces at the highest levels of power can take some sort of decisive action if they see the support of the people.”
Mr. Putin’s core supporters seem to be focused on the view that all problems in war are not his fault but that he was misled by senior officials or the military leadership.
That was the message sent by Ramzan Kadyrov, the great ruler of the Chechnya region of southern Russia. He posted a rambling voice message to his Telegram account over the weekend and warned that if the military doesn’t change its strategy “today or tomorrow”, he will be forced to “talk to the leadership of the Ministry of Defense and the leadership of the country to solve the problem.” Tell them about the actual situation on the field. . “
Mr. Zatulin, the senior lawmaker, said that many people in Russia believe that “Putin was misinformed and did not know everything, that he was deceived.”
“The president himself remains in power and is the cornerstone of stability at this time,” Zatulin said.
However, he cautions, “it’s clear that any system has its limits.”
Alina Lobzina and Ivan Nechepurenko contribution report.
