Russia’s military failures in the war with Ukraine are fueling opposition to President Vladimir Putin, according to two local politicians who oppose him.

The lack of a quick victory, the inability to capture Kyiv and now Ukraine’s successful counteroffensives, while Russia has lost so many troops and so much equipment, has created anger and resentment that Putin’s opponents are trying to exploit. This is according to a report by the American channel CNN.

“There is a point when both liberals and warmongers can have the same goal. That goal may be for Putin to resign,” Dmytro Palyuga, a politician from Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg, was quoted as saying by CNN. A local politician publicly calls for the impeachment procedure of the president.

“Even Russian propaganda cannot hide that the army [rusă] will be defeated in Ukraine,” says Palyuga.

“My mother lives in a parallel reality where Putin is making Russia great again”

Palyuga is also supported, for example, by Ksenia Torstrom, city councilor of St. Petersburg. Even at the local level, she opposes the work of the pro-Putin United Russia party, she told CNN.

Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok Photo: Serhiy Bobilyov / Sputnik / Profimedia

He could not even accept the initiative about the bike lane. So, instead, he is now making public statements and collecting signatures under Palyuga’s petition.

At the same time, Torstrom does not want to underestimate Putin’s support among the population. Even her own mother believes the Kremlin’s propaganda and lives in a “parallel reality where Putin is making Russia great again,” she reports.

She herself considers Putin irrational, but still hopes that he will be able to agree or be persuaded to give up power.

The absence of a serious reaction is unusual

Although Palyuga is cautious in his comments, he takes risks with his actions. Now the court has fined him 47,000 rubles ($780) for “discrediting” the authorities when he called for Putin’s resignation.

Maybe I am too small, too insignificant to be afraid of more serious consequences, – Palyuga tells CNN. However, the lack of a serious reaction, even to the criticism of lower government officials, is currently unusual.

Palyug sees his personal success primarily in the reaction of the population. Since he first appealed to parliament to impeach Putin, he says he has received many expressions of support. In them, citizens promised to pay fines and even offered to hide him in case of need.

The Russian local council, which called for Putin’s resignation, may dissolve

A group of local St. Petersburg politicians who have called for the impeachment of President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine face the possible dissolution of their district council following a court ruling on Tuesday, one lawmaker said.

The court recognized a number of previous meetings of the council as invalid, which opens the way for the dissolution of the regional government.

These days, four more deputies of the Smolensk local council were to appear before the court.

It will be recalled that last week the deputies of the Smolny municipality of St. Petersburg appealed to the State Duma of the Russian Federation to accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of treason, citing a number of reasons, including Russia’s military losses in Ukraine and damage to its economy. due to western sanctions

Another local lawmaker said 65 municipal representatives from St. Petersburg, Moscow and several other regions called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to resign, according to a petition posted on Twitter on Monday.

While they do not currently pose a threat to Putin, the moves mark a rare display of dissent from local elected officials at a time when Russians face serious prison terms for “discrediting” the armed forces or spreading “deliberately false information” about them.

Palyuga told Reuters he expected a growing number of those calling for Putin’s resignation after the Ukrainians’ lightning counteroffensive last week.

“Of course, what is happening now coincided well with our agenda. Many people who liked Putin are beginning to feel betrayed. I think that the more successful the Ukrainian army will be, the more such people there will be,” he said.

Russian political scientist Tetiana Stanova believes that the biggest risk for the Kremlin is not the councilors’ protest itself, but the danger of a harsh reaction to it.

“A reaction or an overreaction can cause more political damage to the regime than this petition. But I have no doubt that everyone who signed the petition will be under political pressure,” said Stanova, the founder of the independent analytical project R. .Politik.

Thousands of cases have been brought against people accused of defaming the military, which usually result in fines for first-time offenders, but in July a Moscow councilman was sentenced to seven years in prison after being found guilty of spreading false information. information Several other journalists and opposition figures have also been charged and face prison terms.