War in Ukraine: Opposition member Volkov sees Putin’s system crumbling

Watch the video: Navalny confidante Leonid Volkov talks about Russia under Putin.

In the Putin system, he decides everything himself. But that can’t work, it’s too big for that, you can’t manage a country like this alone. That leads to wrong decisions and “Putin isn’t the smartest either.” Therefore, Russia would disintegrate. The oligarchs are no longer viewed by Putin as employees, but are now his purse for the war.
In “Putinland” he talks about Putin’s imperialist delusions. In his view, Putin’s self-image as a great head of state who wants to go down in history stems from the fact that he reads too many historical books, including those by Russian fascists. “You can also describe it as delusional, because it’s just not true.” Russia is not a great power and the people of Russia do not want it either. But Putin is driven by his imperialist ideas.
“Only a small part of Russians support war in Ukraine”
His political organization does opinion polls in Russia. In doing so, they see how support for the war is declining. The core of patriots who really support the war is small, about 7-8 percent of the Russian population. But there is a large, sleeping majority. They want to reach these people as members of the opposition. Right now you can’t take to the streets in Russia. Even someone who holds up a white piece of paper will be arrested. But that wouldn’t mean the protest isn’t growing. “She’s sort of under the rug.” Nevertheless, it could happen that the mood breaks because of some event. “The system is not stable. Putin has much less influence and control over his own system than he ever had.” In addition, he believes that the system in Putin’s inner circle could crumble. “I consider an elite conflict to be quite possible.” They would see the divisions and conflicts in the system around Putin. The oligarchs are no longer satisfied, they have lost a lot from the sanctions. “That’s why we’ve seen something we’ve never seen in the last few months, that these oligarchs are also trying to get in touch with us.” This is the search for alternative paths for Russia’s future.
“You mustn’t negotiate with Vladimir Putin”
Putin wants a ceasefire to gain time for the next attack. “One cannot, one must not, negotiate with Putin, also because he is not capable of negotiating.” Putin signed several agreements and never kept them. “If Putin stays in the Kremlin, the war will not end.” Everything else is just a break for him, says Volkov.
He also takes a position on the letters of request that were sent to the requesting that, among other things, the Russian oligarch Fridman be removed from the EU sanctions list. Volkov denies that he gave his consent for a joint letter to be signed in his name in February. However, he confirms that he wrote a letter to the EU Commission himself in October 2022.
Divide the elites in Russia
He claims that the idea was to divide the elites in Russia and get selected oligarchs to make a deal that if sanctions against them were lifted, they would pay them money. So they would have wanted to drive a public conflict between Putin and the oligarchs. “I saw this situation as an opportunity.” Nevertheless, the letter was a political mistake. It was a secret letter and it gave the impression that you, as an anti-corruption foundation, had secretly negotiated with the oligarchs, which did not happen.
He denies the allegation that Fridman paid for the safety of Volkov’s children. The Meduza portal wrote that they had learned from an informant that Mr. Fridmann would pay for the protection of the children on the way to school. He refutes that his children are 11 months and 5 years old, they haven’t even gone to school yet. Neither he personally nor his organization would have had any financial relationships with Fridman.
Leonid Volkov lives in exile
Volkov now lives in exile in Lithuania and would move about freely. Although he makes sure that he never publishes his appointments beforehand, he is not protected by personal security or the like. He tries not to think too much about the dangers. Otherwise his work would not be possible and his life would be very limited.
The only way to contact Navalny is through his lawyers. They sometimes bring them messages from him.
In terms of health, he is currently doing relatively well – of course, taking into account the conditions in prison. But despite this, everything is being tried to break him down mentally, for example by locking an inmate with a mental illness in the neighboring cell, who always screamed at night and was therefore unable to sleep. But he is certain: “Breaking Alexei (Navalny) is not possible.” Nevertheless, they worry that his health could be in danger again and again.

Nele Balgo talks to Leonid Volkov, a Russian opposition figure in exile, a close confidant and collaborator of Alexei Navalny.