Leer en Español
A group of Russian municipal deputies today addressed the Duma, or chamber of deputies, with a request that it charges the country’s president, Vladimir Putin, with high treason for launching the military campaign in Ukraine.
“We consider that President Putin’s decision on the start of the special military operation harms the security of Russia and its citizens,” the petition from the deputies of the Smolninskoye municipal council of St. Petersburg, Putin’s hometown, states.
As reported by the digital newspaper Meduza, the aim of the petition is for Putin to be deposed from his position at the helm of the Kremlin, where he arrived in 2000 and, according to the constitutional reform, could remain until 2036.
“In our opinion, with the beginning of the special military operation on the territory of Ukraine in the actions of the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, there are indications of a crime covered by Article 73 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, high treason,” they point out.
According to the request, since the beginning of hostilities Russian citizens are dying, the national economy has deteriorated, and an investor and brain drain is taking place.
In addition, NATO is expanding eastward and, due to the President’s decision, the border between Russia and the Atlantic Alliance has doubled with the accession of Finland and Sweden.
The Russian military intervention has also caused the opposite effect to the demilitarization of the neighboring country, with the Western supply to Ukraine of 38 billion dollars in armaments.
The petition has been supported by “the majority of deputies present”, as explained one of the signatories, Dmitri Paliuga, who did not specify their number.
On the occasion of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Putin denied on Wednesday that it was Russia that initiated the military actions in Ukraine last February and that it had violated international law.
According to a poll published this week, 70% of Russians support to a greater or lesser extent the military campaign in Ukraine, while 18% of the population opposes it.
