The truth is that most Russians oppose intervention in Ukraine. Even the state-run Russian Public Opinion Research Center found last month that 73 percent of Russians are against it . Consider the irony that, while Putin’s officials justified the invasion by citing the need to “protect Russians in Ukraine,” Putin’s police forces were arresting and beating Russians on the streets of Moscow and St. Petersburg for protesting against war. Russia’s opposition leaders, including Boris Nemtsov and Alexei Navalny, did not take part in these protests. Conveniently for the Kremlin, they have been in jail for days after their arrest last week for participating in a separate anti-Putin rally. The Kremlin’s crackdown also targets the remaining independent media outlets, including TV Rain and Ekho Moskvy radio. The Russian opposition has made its stance clear. In a statement from prison, Nemtsov referred to Putin’s occupation of Ukraine as “madness of a deranged KGB officer.” The People’s Freedom Party that Nemtsov co-chairs with former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov accused the Kremlin of “an unwillingness ... to recognize the Ukrainian people’s sovereign right to decide its own fate.” And while Navalny cannot comment publicly — he was transferred in recent days to house arrest that prohibits him from communicating with the outside world — his Progress Party has declared Putin’s war on Ukraine “a reckless policy” that “goes against the interests of our country.” The Russo-Japanese war, contrary to Plehve’s intent, led to the first Russian revolution and forced the regime to grant a parliament and recognize political and civil liberties. World War I contributed to the collapse of the czarist system. The Afghanistan invasion precipitated the disintegration of the Soviet dictatorship. Putin may yet regret the day he decided to send troops into Ukraine.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 10:51:20 +0000
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