Alexei Navalny has called for people to protest Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine on Twitter, promising the Russian president does not represent Russia.
Navalny is Putin’s primary political opposition and has been campaigning against corruption in the Kremlin for years. Putin has never referred to Navalny directly by name in public.
He has been detained since January 2021 and is now in the corrective labour colony, but went viral on Twitter on Wednesday morning with a particularly moving thread.
He said: “We – Russia – want to be a nation of peace. Alas few people would call us that now.
“But let’s at least not become a nation of frightened silent people.
“Of cowards who pretend not to notice the aggressive war against Ukraine unleashed by our obviously insane czar.”
He promised he will “not remain silent” as the Kremlin promotes “pseudo-historical nonsense” about the last century as an “excuse” for the war.
The political leader then promoted a phrase from the USSR, “fight for peace” – and called on “everyone to take to the streets and fight for peace”.
This could also be a reference to the speculation that Putin wants Ukraine to be part of Russia because both countries were once part fo the USSR.
He added: “Putin is not Russia, and if there is anything in Russia right now that you can be most proud of it, it is those 6,824 people who were detained because – without any call – they took to the streets with placards saying ‘No War’.”
Anti-war protests have been taking place across Russia since Putin invaded last week, but they have been quickly quashed by riot police.
Still, Navalny called for the public to “go to the main square of your city every weekday and at 2pm on weekends and holidays”, adding: “We cannot wait any longer.”
He also asked for people to go to Russian embassy, organise demonstrations, even if public sentiment waivers.
“We must, gritting our teeth and overcoming fear, come and demand an end to the war. Each arrested person must be replaced by two newcomers.”
Navalny concluded: “There’s no one to do it for us. Let’s not ‘be against the war’. Let’s fight against the war.”
The Kremlin critic was sentenced to three and a half years in prison last year for allegedly violating his probation terms of a 2014 money laundering case.
Navalny rejected the claims of violating his parole at the time, and said it was a politically motivated act against him.
He has also claimed that he is being “tortured” in prison, a year after he was poisoned by the nerve agent Novichok ended up being hospitalised for a month.