Moscow, February 22 (EFE).- The Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, “is already an illegitimate president,” regardless of whether the West recognizes the March presidential elections or not, Yan Rachinski, director of Memorial, an organization that received in 2022 the Nobel Peace Prize.
“If we talk regarding legitimacy, Putin is already illegitimate, since since 2011 there has not even been a hint of competitive elections. Total falsification, I am not talking regarding the reform of the Constitution,” he commented during an interview at the Memorial headquarters in Moscow.
Rachinski, whose organization was liquidated by Russian Justice, considers that the social and political involution in Russia did not begin two years ago with the start of the war in Ukraine, but much earlier, in 2014, with the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. .
“When a person (like Putin) believes he can defeat Ukraine in a week, he must be a person who is not in his right mind,” he said.
Putin, a usurper
The director of Memorial considers that “not recognizing the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, is possible, since it is a very small country (…) and is not an important actor from an economic point of view.”
Instead, he adds, “Russia is a huge country. Non-recognition means breaking relations and ties, and giving up the possibility of influencing what happens within the country.”
“It is more of a political question. From the point of view of law, this legitimacy has not existed for a long time. Neither he nor the so-called Parliament. Proclaim so that everyone understands that this is not an elected president, but a usurper and a dictator “It’s totally timely and correct,” he says.
He believes that “a lot depends” on the willingness of the West and the rest of the world “to defend international law” in Ukraine.
The West must choose “between the inconveniences of now and the catastrophe of tomorrow,” he stressed and recalled that for Putin “it was a surprise” that European leaders put the fight with Ukraine ahead of “economic interests.”
“He was used to dealing with not very honest businessmen. He thought that with gas and oil he would receive carte blanche, but it didn’t work out for him,” he said.
Navalni, a political assassination
Rachinski considers that the death in prison of opposition leader Alexei Navalni is a true reflection of the current “degradation”, although he remembers that “he is not the first political prisoner to die in prison, but he is the most notorious case.”
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“Regardless of the formal cause of his death, it was undoubtedly a political assassination (…) Navalny was coherent, he did not give up. That alone deserves respect. He never resorted to violence, he never renounced his convictions,” he underlines.
The activist admits that he was surprised by “the cowardice of the authorities in the face of the bouquets of flowers” placed by the Russians in recent days, peaceful actions during which hundreds of people were arrested.
Remember that “the Russian opposition did not break a single window or burn any car,” but “they are condemned for extremism.”
“The authorities do not understand that they are closing the escape valve. The pot is already full (…) Fear sooner or later turns into anger. The pressure of the steam can destroy everything,” he highlights.
But he warns that, today, “there is no possibility of preparing an alternative power, since there are no political actors.”
“The Russian political field has been practically devastated. There is only one (legal) opposition party, Yabloko, which has no great options (…) We do not see anything positive in the short term. Of course, in the long term Russia will be free. What a remedy there is!” he points out.
Putinism, a regime on bayonets
Rachinski, who personally received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on December 10, 2022, believes that, “as long as it is not said that the Soviet power was a criminal and terrorist State, not the people, but the State, then it will be difficult to progress “.
At the same time, he has serious doubts that the ‘Putinist’ regime “will last more than ten years.”
“First, because there is nothing eternal. Second, it is not comfortable to live sitting on bayonets. This regime lives on bayonets. There is nothing to lean on. The segment of society that benefits from the current regime is very small. And is increasingly broader (that of) those who suffer because of what is happening,” he points out.
He highlights that “prices increased by 50% and continue to increase, inflation is growing. And among the rich, many of them would like to change things, but they don’t know how (…) And others are already thinking regarding it, they are looking for variants.”
“Putin’s ideology is simple: the State above all. The State is sacred,” said Rachinski, who defined the current model in Russia as an “authoritarian modernization.”
By: (EFE)
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2024-02-22 10:30:49
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