Russian councillors call for Putin’s removal in daring anti-war protest

telegraph: District council members in St Petersburg have called for Vladimir Putin to be removed from office for committing treason, marking a rare and daring protest against the war.

A petition adopted on Wednesday evening by the Smolninsky district council said the Russian leader’s decision to send troops to Ukraine had led to a staggering loss of life, an economic downturn and the expansion of Nato.

“Putin’s actions present a threat to Russia’s security”, the petition which used the Kremlin’s term “special military operation” instead of “war”, said.

“He needs to be removed.”

Smolninsky is where the neighbourhood where Mr Putin grew up and St Petersburg is where he began his career in politics.

'People are very anxious'

Nikita Yuferev, one of seven councillors who signed the petition, said he wanted to use his position to give voice to anti-war Russians who were too afraid to speak out due to a recent flurry of jailings for an.

“People are very anxious about what’s going on,” he told The Telegraph.

“We’ve decided to appeal to a different audience, using the arguments that we have heard so that maybe someone will think about it and see that the president’s stated goals (in Ukraine) have completely failed.”

He pointed to one of the council’s arguments that President Putin was acting against his country’s interests by fuelling the eastward expansion of Nato.

Within just a few months of the invasion, Finland and Sweden, which have long based their foreign policy on their neutral status, had applied for Nato membership and been accepted.

Message of hope for anti-war Russians

Mr Yuferev sent an official petition to President Putin in August urging him to stop the war. An official reply from the Kremlin merely said the military operation was ongoing.

Mr Yuferev told the Telegraph his and his fellow deputies do not have much hope that powers-that-be would act on their plea but they hope it will send a message of hope for all anti-war Russians.

“My inbox is filled with messages of gratitude and support: it shows that it’s wrong to think that everyone in Russia supports Putin and the special military operation,” he said, using the Kremlin’s term for the invasion.

“This petition is for the people to see that there are many people who are against it, and they’re not alone.”

Russia passed a war censorship law in the aftermath of the invasion that made the very use of the word “war” in relation to the invasion a crime. Thousands of people have been slapped with hefty fines for anti-war protests, and several hundred have been thrown into jail.

Alexei Gorinov, a councilman in Moscow, was sentenced to seven years in prison in July over a speech at the council’s meeting where he condemned the war and killings of Ukrainian children.

Asked about the Moscow councilman’s plight, Mr Yuferev said he was appalled by the verdict and that he is confident his actions cannot be considered a crime since he does not use the word “war” in relation to the invasion.

“We’re trying to use all legal means at our disposal,” he said.

“I don’t think it’s dangerous. We aren’t breaking the law in any way.”