Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – European Union (EU) officials warn that worse politicians than Russian President Vladimir Putin could take over the country if there is no viable democratic alternative in the country,
Sergey Lagodinsky, a member of the European Parliament for the German Green Party who left Russia in 1993, has urged the world to take seriously the possibility of a worse undemocratic politician than Putin.
“It will be important and inspiring to present viable democratic alternatives when circumstances change,” Lagodinsky said Foreign policyquoted NewsweekTuesday (11/29/2022).
“We need strong leaders and politicians who offer themselves as alternatives”.
While there are a number of vocal opponents of Putin, few have been able to gather a following like opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
However, Navalny, who has staged several anti-government rallies in Russia and is one of Putin’s biggest rivals, is currently serving a 13-year sentence on fraud and contempt of court charges.
Most of his allies have either fled the country or are under house arrest.
Lagodinsky, who has known Navalny for more than a decade, said the political activist returned to Russia because his political life was so entrenched in the country, but he didn’t expect the Kremlin to uproot his political organization, the Future Russia party. .
Like Navalny, Lagodinsky has been critical of Putin, especially after Russia’s incursion into Ukraine.
A month into the war, the German member of parliament accused EU politicians of repeatedly giving Putin a pass in an opinion piece, and urged the bloc to hold itself accountable for being politically responsible for the conflict in Ukraine.
“We must remember the lessons of the past for our future: even if you have to live with dictators, you don’t need to finance, justify or imitate them. What we really need is deputinization. We must eliminate Putin himself,” Lagodinsky wrote.
He suggested that Kremlin opponents set up offices overseas so they could talk to Western leaders about the issue at home.
Lyubov Sobol, a Navalny ally who fled Russia last year, said the opposition politicians’ twin goals were to “reduce Putin’s legitimacy and boost confidence in our democratic movement”.
“There will be a lot of political turmoil after Putin. Anyone can participate,” Sobol said.
“We are not waiting for the regime to fall. We are actively working towards it and want to achieve it as soon as possible.”
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