Could the tide be turning in Russia? While the country is experiencing setbacks in its “special military operation” in Ukraine, misunderstanding would grow in Moscow with regard to Vladimir Putin’s choices, according to Dmitry Palyuga, local elected representative in Saint Petersburg. “The internal conflict in Russia is getting worse,” he told our colleagues from BFMTV.
But for the politician, things will not change overnight. “In Russia, any protest and any disagreement with the official line is repressed in a very severe way,” recalled Mr. Palyuga, who himself was sentenced to a heavy fine following calling for the impeachment of the Russian president in September. “For people to change anything, it takes a long time and the elites have to decide to get rid of Putin.”
But for the president of the municipal council of Smolninskoye (district of Saint-Petersburg), there is no doubt regarding the intentions of the Russian elites. “They already want to get rid of Putin, but they don’t know how to do it,” he told our colleagues from BFM TV.
Since Monday, October 10, Russia has launched a “massive” bombing campaign in Ukraine, in response to the Crimean Bridge explosion. “If the attempts of terrorist attacks on our territory continue, Russia’s responses will be severe and their scale will correspond to the level of the threats posed”, said Mr. Putin. This Thursday, October 13, kyiv has once once more been affected. The governor of the capital considered in particular that “critical infrastructure” had been affected.
