Kasparov And Khodorkovsky Spoke In Munich About The Future Of Russia

The West should not be afraid of hostilities escalation.

There was a meeting with representatives of the Russian opposition at the Munich Security Conference (MSC). Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Garry Kasparov, Zhanna Nemtsova and Irina Shcherbakova, a representative of the Memorial Human Rights Group, took part there. Politicians opposed to the Kremlin took part in the discussion and expressed their opinion about the future of Russia, according to Radio Liberty».

Garry Kasparov called Ukraine's victory in the war a necessary condition for any positive changes in Russian society. In his opinion, the Russian people have to understand that Russia is losing. He called the return of the annexed Crimea to Ukraine the key to such an understanding. "Crimea is the basis of Putin's mythology," Mr Kasparov said and urged the Western countries to contribute to the Ukrainian victory in every possible way.

According to Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the West should not be afraid of hostilities escalation. On the contrary, he believes that de-escalation and a truce on the Kremlin's conditions would be unacceptable. “This means that the thief would have managed to get away with the loot,” Mr Khodorkovsky said. He considers the weakening of presidential power and the principle of separation and balance of powers to be the key to a successful democratic future for Russia.

Zhanna Nemtsova drew attention to the fact that many people in Russia do not know the details about the war in Ukraine and are not interested in it. She considered it important to educate the Russians, resorting not only to rational, but also to emotional arguments. Irina Shcherbakova supported her. She stressed that the West should not be afraid of chaos in case of the current Russian government collapse. In her opinion, such fears are fueled by the Kremlin, and it’s necessary to overcome this.

The Munich Security Conference is taking place from February 17 to 19. This year its main topic is the war in Ukraine. Leaders and high-ranking representatives of many countries are attending it, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and US Vice President Kamala Harris. The Russian delegation was not invited to Munich, unlike the politicians in exile who opposed the Kremlin.