Ilya Yashin made his comment during a livestream on Aug. 4, days after his release in a historic prisoner exchange.
Yashin was one of 24 detainees swapped by Russia and Western nations on Aug. 1, the largest such exchange in almost 15 years. The activist had spoken out against Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and was jailed in 2022 for “discrediting” the Russian military.
“The criminal war of aggression against Ukraine should be stopped immediately,” Yashin said.
“Russia must withdraw absolutely all troops from the territory of Ukraine.”
“The main task of the Western world today, as it semes to me, is to save Ukraine from (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” he said.
In response to an official who asked Yashin what Western countries can do to help activists in Russia, Yashin reiterated this point.
“If you want to help the Russian opposition and Russian society and Russia as a whole, save Ukraine from Putin,” he said.
Yashin’s rhetoric positions Putin as Ukraine’s primary enemy. A former politician who served in the Moscow City Council from 2017-2021, Yashin identifies as a Russian patriot and argues that is antiwar stance is not in conflict with his patriotism.
“Yes, indeed, it is possible to be against Putin and the war but at the same time be a Russian patriot,” he said, insisting that the “natural” [Russian] patriotic position is to demand Russia’s withdrawal form Ukrainian territory.
It really is so stupid.
NATO and friends have stockpiled so. Many. Weapons. They are just rotting in storage.
For what?
Deterring a Russian Offensive. It’s literally what they were designed to do.
Why is sending stuff over so politically perilous?
Agreed.
The answer is probably agreements on readiness. The Dutch government said something to that effect when they donated part of a second patriot system. They where using an exception clause that allowed to temporarily be under required readiness levels in order to donate the system components.
Also logistics and the ability to deploy stuff by Ukraine play a role. No use donating stuff only for it to sit in at risk storage in Ukraine.
Because of Russia “credible” threats.
Honestly, I don’t get it either. My theory is that a bunch of them are paid by Russia to impede the process, or want Ukraine to be a testing ground for AI warfare, or they are just unable to make decisions because they are afraid of everything.
