After the Ukrainian army took control of Vovchansk, the Russian flag was publicly burned. (Archyde.com)
2022/09/14 05:30
[Compiled by Chen Chengliang/Comprehensive Report]As Ukraine turned from defense to offense on the battlefield and recovered large tracts of lost land, there were also obvious signs of shaken within Russia. Under the control of speech, President Vladimir Putin has been criticized by domestic internet celebrities, experts and officials, and he is facing the double test of military and internal affairs. A petition calling for Putin to step down has been signed by more than 100 lawmakers.
Public opinion representatives from 18 municipal districts in the Russian capital Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kolpino and other cities posted a petition on social media “Twitter” calling for Putin to step down.
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The petition, drafted and published with the assistance of Ksenia Thorstrom in the Semenovsky District of St. Petersburg, was careful not to mention “war”, lest the signatories break the law by criticizing the war, but “President Putin’s actions undermine the future of Russia and its citizens”, ending with: “We ask Putin to resign from the presidency of Russia!”
The petition was originally co-signed by Solstrom and 18 other MPs. It is said that 84 MPs signed the petition on the 12th, bringing the number of co-signers to 105. Smolninskoye in St. Petersburg is Putin’s birthplace, but when the regional parliament fired the first shot on the 8th, it passed a resolution asking the “State Duma”, the lower house of the Russian parliament, to charge Putin for treason. charges in order to remove him from office. The next day, some lawmakers including Nikita Yuferev were summoned by the police for allegedly damaging the reputation of the Russian army.
The parliament of Moscow’s Lomonosovsky District also issued a petition on the 12th calling for Putin to step down on the grounds that Putin brought Russia back to the Cold War era, causing the world to start to fear Russia again, “Your point of view. And your model of statecraft is hopelessly outdated, which hinders the development of Russia and its human potential.”
Kremlin warns: 15 years in prison
In this regard, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned on the 13th that legitimate criticism of Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine is only one line from violating the wartime censorship law (up to 15 years in prison). But he also insisted that the people of the whole country will continue to support Putin.
In addition, several state-run TV stations in Russia rarely made public noises. Former and current MPs, political scientists and other prominent figures quarreled on state-run independent television (NTV) talk shows. Russia’s first channel (Rossiya-1) also appeared to dare to contradict the authorities. Many Russian military internet celebrities were also angry at the clumsy public relations tactics of the Ministry of Defense and demanded that the Russian army commander be punished. Putin insisted on participating in the anniversary celebration of the founding of Moscow on the 10th, which also caused a backlash from his cronies. Independent Russian media allege that the inner circle of power has begun to pave the way for a power struggle in the “post-Putin era”.
However, the New York Times pointed out that while there are many signs that the Russian elite is uneasy about the defeat of the Russian army and unsure how to move forward, there is no evidence that Putin’s grip on power is weakening. The BBC also reported that there had been no signs of panic within the Kremlin, and Putin still seemed to think the situation would be in his favor.
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