Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has called on Russians to stage daily protests against Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“I cannot, will not and will not be silent, watching how the pseudo-historical nonsense about the events of 100 years ago became an excuse for Russians to kill Ukrainians, and those, defending themselves, to kill Russians,” he wrote on Twitter.
“Putin is not Russia”, Mr Navalny added.
“We cannot wait any longer. Wherever you are, in Russia, Belarus or on the other side of the planet, go to the main square of your city every weekday and at 2pm on weekends and holidays.”
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Hundreds of people have been arrested in the aftermath of the invasion as they took to the streets in cities across Russia.
“Every person arrested must be replaced by two people who have come out”, Mr Navalny said.
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“If – to stop the war – we have to stuff the jails and the police vans, we will stuff the jails and the police vans.
“Everything has a price, and now, in the spring of 2022, we must pay that price. There is no one else. Let’s not ‘be against the war.’ Let’s fight against the war.”
He added that his imprisonment means he is able to call for peace and that others should go to Russian embassies to protest.
1/12 We – Russia – want to be a nation of peace. Alas, few people would call us that now.
Mr Navalny, the most prominent Putin opponent, was jailed last year after he returned to Russia from Germany.
He had just recovered from what Western laboratory tests established was an attempt to poison him with a nerve agent in Siberia.
In 2020, he was exposed to a nerve agent on a flight from Tomsk to Siberia, to Moscow.
Russia has denied carrying out such an attack.
Human rights activist Marina Litvinovich had previously urged Russians to take to the streets to show their opposition to the violence unfolding.
She said in a video statement on Facebook: “We, the Russian people, are against the war Putin has unleashed.
“We don’t support this war, it is being waged not on our behalf.”
Anti-war protests have taken place across the world, including in the UK, with demonstrators calling for an end to the invasion of Ukraine.