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Navalnaya argues that “if the Government tries to mobilize more and more people for war, resistance will increase”
GMUND (GERMANY), April 21 (DPA/EP) –
Yulia Navalnaya, widow of the late Russian opponent Alexei Navalny, warned this Sunday of the unpredictability of the actions of the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and stressed that we must not rule out the possibility of him resorting to the use of nuclear weapons in the context of the invasion of Ukraine, unleashed in February 2022.
“We don't know what to expect from him,” Navalnaya said in an interview with the German news agency DPA. “He would probably do it,” she noted, before comparing the issue to the invasion of Ukraine. Thus, she has argued that at the time he was not expected to attack the neighboring country, “but he decided to do it.”
“It scares people, it keeps them afraid. Nobody knows what Putin is going to do next,” she stressed, although she maintained that she is not sure that the Russian president has “a firm strategy” in the context of the conflict with Ukraine.
In this sense, he has argued that at this time he does not see a solution to the conflict and has added that “there will not be a simple solution”, although he has expressed his confidence in a reconciliation between Russians and Ukrainians. “Putin has put both countries in a situation in which it will be very difficult to build relationships,” he defended.
Navalnaya has maintained that many people are tired of war. “They don't support it, but they are very afraid to say it out loud because it could put them in jail that same day,” he explained, before adding that he hopes the Russian population will not support new calls for military service by the authorities.
“If the Government tries to mobilize more and more people for war, resistance will increase,” said Navalnaya, who has also stressed that Russia is not Putin. “There are many anti-war and anti-Putin activists. They need to hear support from the West,” she argued.
In another vein, he has indicated that the recent arrests of alleged Russian spies in several European countries are a sign that Putin has been carrying out activities against European countries for years. “Putin hasn't just started, he's been doing this all along,” he argued.
“He starts wars, kills his opponents,” he said. “I always assumed that there were many Russian spies in Europe: Russian spies, that's obvious,” he added, days after the arrest in Germany of two citizens with dual German-Russian nationality suspected of searching for targets for possible acts of sabotage in Germany.
In addition, Polish security agencies detained a man who allegedly intended to help Russian Military Intelligence plan an attack against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
For this reason, Navalnaya regretted that European countries did not recognize sooner the danger that Moscow represented and stressed that if the issue had been raised earlier and more frequently, wars and assassinations could have been avoided.
The opposition has also reiterated her determination to stand up to Putin and has asked for more support from Western countries, while expressing her desire to be able to return to Russia. “I want to live in Russia. My children dream of returning to Russia. I want to go to my husband's grave. It is very important to me. And I hope to be able to do it very, very soon. I dream of going there as soon as possible,” she concluded.
