Russian opponents in exile march against the war in Ukraine

At least a thousand supporters of the Russian opposition in exile, led in particular by Yulia Navalnaïa, began marching in Berlin on Sunday against the war in Ukraine and against Vladimir Putin, a demonstration intended to revive their weakened movement.

This protest march, which serves as a test for Russian opponents, started with cries of “No to war”, “Russia without Putin” or “Russia will be free”, noted AFP journalists .

The march in Berlin, a city which hosts crowds of exiles and Russian opponents, plans to end in front of the Russian embassy. Organizers estimated the number of participants marching under threatening skies at up to 2,000.

The opposition, which lost its figurehead, Alexeï Navalny, in February, who died in murky circumstances in prison, is deprived of the means to act in Russia and therefore forced to relaunch the movement from abroad.

Yulia Navalnaïa, Navalny’s widow, and the latter’s allies lead the procession with the other initiators of the mobilization: Ilia Yashin, former Moscow municipal deputy recently released from prison and Vladimir Kara-Mourza, long-time critic of the Kremlin who survived prison and two poisoning attempts.

Russian power has methodically eradicated all dissent in recent years, throwing hundreds, even thousands, of people behind bars and making any protest action impossible.

The anti-Putin movement is also weakened by heavy divisions and internal struggles between its representatives.

Sunday’s mobilization demands the “immediate withdrawal” of Russian troops from Ukraine, the dismissal of Vladimir Putin and his trial as a “war criminal” and the release of all political prisoners held in Russia.

“It is important to show that Russians and Russian speakers are not all for Putin, as one might believe in the eyes of the whole world, but that they also defend liberal democratic values, that they are against war and murder “, testified a demonstrator, Polina Zelenskaïa, 21, a Russian-speaking student, interviewed by AFP.

The last large gatherings of opposition supporters in Russia spontaneously brought together several thousand people, despite the risks, during Navalny’s funeral in March 2024 and at the very beginning of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Tens of thousands of Russians also protested in January 2021 in many cities across the country after the arrest of Alexeï Navalny upon his return to Russia. These demonstrations were dispersed by the police and led to thousands of arrests.

However, since the death of the charismatic anti-corruption activist, his movement has struggled to rekindle the flame of the fight against Russian power.

Illustrating these difficulties, Yulia Navalnaïa admitted during an interview with opposition television Dojd on Wednesday that she did not have a “plan” to achieve the fall of Vladimir Putin and an end to the war.

Several scandals within the Russian opposition have also weakened the movement and caused frustration among some of its activists.

In question, the attack with a hammer on an ally of Navalny, the victim pointing the finger at the movement of ex-oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Or these accusations against the anti-corruption foundation of the late opponent which allegedly covered up the machinations of crooked bankers in Russia.

Yulia Navalnaïa, Ilia Iachine and Vladimir Kara-Mourza, demonstrating together in Berlin, therefore hope to display unity, and mobilize the pool of tens of thousands of Russians who have left their country since 2022, in particular to escape military mobilization.

“It is very important to show that we can work together and consolidate the various forces of the Russian anti-war movement,” insisted Vladimir Kara-Mourza, on Dojd in early November.

The Kremlin has already dismissed this initiative as insignificant. Its spokesperson, Dmitri Peskov, on Wednesday mocked opponents who were “monstrously detached from their country” and whose “opinion has no importance”.