Two Communist lawmakers in Russia’s far East on Friday, 27th May 2022, urged President Vladimir Putin to put an end to the ongoing Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine in a rare public show of dissent.
Despite thousands of people having been killed, maimed as well as wounded during Russia’s three-month military campaign in Ukraine, Putin has thus far largely enjoyed the public loyalty of the country’s political parties and government officials.
But a meeting of the legislative Assembly of the Primorsky Krai region caused an uproar on Friday when a local lawmaker and member of the Communist faction in the legislature read out a statement, urging the Kremlin chief to pull out Russian troops with immediate effect.
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“If our country does not halt the military operation, then there will be even more orphans in our country,” lawmaker Leonid Vasyukevich read from the statement, according to a video of the meeting that has gone viral on the electronic media.
He said, “During a military operation, people become disabled. These are young people who could be of great use to our country. We demand an immediate withdrawal of the Russian troops.”
As he read the appeal, several lawmakers and the Governor of the region, Oleg Kozhemyako, tried to silence him.
Kozhemyako accused Vasyukevich of ‘tarnishing’ the reputation of the Russian army, hence calling him a ‘traitor’.
Vasyukevich further buttressed that the statement had earlier been signed by four Communist lawmakers but regrettably, two of those deputies disavowed the appeal at the meeting.
A majority of lawmakers present at the meeting then voted to strip Vasyukevich and Gennady Shulga, another lawmaker backing the appeal, of the right to speak at the Friday’s session.
The head of the local Communist faction, Anatoly Dolgachev, stated that the move had not been agreed with the party and promised to take “the toughest measures”.
It’s noteworthy that the veteran leader of the Communist Party, Gennady Zyuganov had publicly supported Putin over the ongoing Ukraine war, thus enjoining the president to ride on.
Russian artists, media figures and several business tycoons had spoken out against the Kremlin’s offensive in Ukraine that had led to a barrage of unprecedented Western sanctions against Moscow.
But after three months of the hostilities, there had been no apparent outbreak of dissent from within Putin’s inner circle or top officials.
It would interest, or perhaps shock, us to note that the Russian government has adopted legislation that could see people, the country’s residents, imprisoned for up to 15 years for discrediting the Russian military.
But truth be told, Putin needn’t be told nor reminded that the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has gotten to stupor, hence should be put to stop unconditionally.
Frankly, anyone who thinks good of the country, Russia needs not hesitate to closely intimate the warlord on the awaited dangers inherent in the lingering crisis between the two neighbouring nations in Europe.
In history, war has never helped any nation in addressing any situation, nor has it been the actual remedy to any perceived political error anywhere across the globe. This is the reason Putin needs to have a rethink headlong towards embracing dialogue.