"Peaceful Russia"? New Party Wants to End Ukraine War and "Overthrow Putin" – There Are Doubts
A "military operation" that has been ongoing for over four years and has likely caused more than a million dead and incapacitated in its own ranks. Repression and sometimes even the internet being shut down, along with growing economic problems – yet according to all polls, Vladimir Putin still has a large majority of Russians behind him: the Russian polling institute Levada Center recently saw an approval rating of 79 percent for the Kremlin chief. Can an exile opposition change that? Former political prisoner Ilya Yashin wants to try. He is the first chairman of a party founded in Berlin over the weekend. Its name: "Peaceful Russia."
It is about representing Russia's "true interests," Yashin announced on Monday. That means: "withdrawal of troops from Ukraine and a rejection of imperialism, a guarantee of human and civil rights, and a fair construction of society." With the words "Today we oppose the Kremlin's war in Ukraine. Ultimately, our goal is to overthrow Vladimir Putin's regime and come to power," Yashin was quoted by the French daily Le Monde. However, there are already doubts about the undertaking. The party name "Peaceful Russia" is "misleading and reckless," says CDU foreign policy expert Roderich Kiesewetter to the Frankfurter Rundschau of Ippen.Media. One should "not overestimate the party and not give it excessive attention."
Doubts about the new exile party: Is there a "good Russia"?
Kiesewetter questions Yashin's "rejection of imperialism" among other things. "Ilya Yashin was a close confidant of Navalny, who as a nationalist certainly had an imperial perspective," explained the CDU MP, issuing his warning. The party name suggests that there is a "'good' Russia" and that it is "Putin's war." "But that is completely wrong. It is Russia's war and the 'good' Russia does not exist given the ideologization and totalitarian orientation."
Yashin began his political career with the liberal party Yabloko and became increasingly prominent as a critic of Putin from around 2010. In the summer of 2022, Yashin was arrested for alleged false information about the army and sentenced to a long prison term – he had spoken publicly about the massacre committed by the Russian army in Bucha. A little over two years later, he was freed in a prisoner exchange and came to Berlin. Yashin subsequently complained that he had been deported from Russia against his will.
Kiesewetter, however, sees little hope for a system change in Russia, despite the country's problems. Such a change presupposes "that Russia loses and Russian society 'learns' to lose," he judges. Russia must, "as a society, recognize the right to exist, the freedom and self-determination of all neighboring states, and say goodbye to its colonialism." Economic problems are not enough to initiate such a process: a military defeat must force Russia to withdraw completely from Ukraine and also disarm other military means in Europe.
A similar scenario had been described by another former confidant of Navalny, Leonid Volkov, now living in exile in Lithuania, in his book "Putinland" as a possible way out of Putin's rule. He was present at the founding congress of "Peaceful Russia" over the weekend. Kiesewetter, however, relies on other exile forces. Credible democratic opposition exists only among a small group, he explained. Most are people who went into exile long before 2022 and demand a defeat of Russia and decolonization. The MP referred, for example, to former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, who are united in the "Russian Anti-War Committee."
Indeed, Khodorkovsky already warned the West in 2023, in an interview with our editorial team, to work towards a military victory for Ukraine. "If that does not happen, we will next have to talk about a war of Russia against NATO," he warned even then.
According to a report by the Russian exile medium Meduza, 111 people took part in the founding meeting. Disputes were also reported – about personnel as well as content. Several participants praised the democratic process but also expressed criticism of original plans. Feminist anti-war activist Daria Serenko told the portal that she had successfully fought to remove the self-description as a "party of healthy patriotism" from the founding manifesto: "The word patriotism is very important to Yashin," she said. Yashin himself was elected chairman with 68 out of 110 votes. (Sources: Roderich Kiesewetter, Le Monde, dpa, own research)
