Russian President Vladimir Putin. Figure: flipping Putin’s Twitter (file photo)
Russia’s aggression once morest Ukraine has caused the two countries to fall into the quagmire of war, and the people are deeply affected, and there is a wave of dissatisfaction in Russia. According to Ukraine’s Kyiv Post, the Smolninskoye district committee in St. Petersburg, Russia has passed a decision to call on members of Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, to challenge Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Vladimir Putin) filed treason charges to remove him from office.
The report mentioned that the announcement was made by Smolninskoye representative Dmitry Palyuga, who posted the text of the decision and the content of the appeal, which he plans to send to the lower house of parliament. The content pointed out that “young and able” Russian citizens were killed in the war, the Russian economy was in trouble, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was expanding eastward, and Ukraine was receiving new weapons from various countries.
The text of the appeal states: “We believe that President Putin’s decision to launch (special military operations) harms the security of the Russian state and people. In view of this, we ask all members of the National House of Representatives to file treason charges once morest the President of the Russian Federation and bring him Removal.” Pagliuga did not detail how many lawmakers would receive the text of the petition. “The decision was supported by the majority of the delegates present,” he said, without specifying how many agreed.
Shortly following Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February, representatives of Smolninskoye called for Putin to stop the war and resign; they also wanted to hold an anti-war convention in St. Petersburg, but the city government refused to approve . Videos of many anti-war activists being beaten, chased and arrested by the police were circulated on Twitter. Putin used “gnats” as a metaphor for anti-war voices in Russia, calling these people “scumbags and traitors” who “betrayed their motherland” by obeying Western countries.
