Russian MPs ‘sorry’ and condemn invasion
Several top politicians in the lower house break ranks and call on Kremlin to stop assault on Ukraine
‘I voted for peace, not a war. For Russia to become a shield for the Donbas, not for bombing Kyiv’
RUSSIA’S invasion of Ukraine is proving so unpopular that several Russian MPs are withdrawing their support for the Kremlin.
The State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, last week voted to recognise the independence of eastern Ukraine’s separatist regions.
Vladimir Putin, the President, signed the motion into law on Monday.
Two days later Russia’s upper house of parliament gave the green light to sending Russian troops “abroad”. However, it was not clear until Thursday morning that Mr Putin had ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Mikhail Matveyev, a member of the State Duma, yesterday called on the
Kremlin to stop the invasion. “By voting to recognise the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics I voted for peace, not a war. For Russia to become a shield for the Donbas, not for bombing Kyiv,” he said.
Another MP, Communist Oleg Smolin, said on Friday he was “shocked” by the invasion and was sorry for the loss of life.
Their statements came amid myriad anti-war petitions from Russian teachers, scientists and doctors.
A legendary Soviet photographer and author called on Mr Putin and his entourage to retire in a video clip posted on Novaya Gazeta’s website yesterday.
“Why don’t you all have some rest? You did such a great job. You all are pension age. It’s time to retire,” said Kyivborn 83-year-old Yuri Rost.
Even some of the most Kremlinfriendly pundits began to publicly question the rationale behind Moscow unleashing a war on a sovereign nation. Andrey Kortunov, director of the Russian International Affairs Council that works with the foreign ministry, told the BBC yesterday he had not advised Russians officials to launch an invasion and that many in the Russian government were shocked at the decision.
“I would say that many of us in the foreign office were surprised and I would say shocked and I would even say devastated to see what is happening,” he said.
“This is an important red line that was crossed by the Russian leadership and the repercussions are likely to be very significant.”
Russia’s foreign ministry sought to punish some of the country’s most respected journalists for speaking out against the invasion.
Elena Chernenko, a veteran foreign affairs reporter for the Kommersant newspaper who often travelled with Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister, said on Friday she was ejected from his pool for “unprofessionalism”.
Condemnation of the war was spreading across Russian society yesterday.
Architects, doctors and psychiatrists all published their anti-war petitions to add to earlier appeals by representatives of other professions.
Sporadic protests were reported in several Siberian cities, while in Moscow police sealed off a central square, fearing unrest. In St Petersburg, unnamed activists came to the city’s Piskaryovskoye cemetery, the resting place for the victims of the Second World War’s Siege of Leningrad, where they held placards saying: “There are no patriots among the dead.”
Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow’s major contemporary art foundation, said it would halt work on “all exhibitions until the human and political tragedy that is unfolding in Ukraine has ceased”.
The Moscow Art Theatre, Russia’s legendary drama theatre has redone the logo on its Facebook page, adding a dove with a peace branch to the seagull from Anton Chekhov’s eponymous play.
For the third consecutive day, Russian state media yesterday appeared to avoid calling the invasion a “war” and described it as a “special operation in the Donbas”. Russia’s communications watchdog asked 10 media outlets to delete articles containing reports of civilian deaths and air strikes on Ukrainian cities, which according to the Kremlin do “not correspond to reality”.