Alexander Cherkasov, Russian activist and dissident, member of the Center for the Protection of Human Rights Memorial, has assured that negotiations to end the war in Ukraine are not possible because every time Russian President Vladimir Putin opens his mouth, he lies.
In an event organized this Tuesday in Madrid by the Casa Encendida and the Coordinadora de Organizaciones para el Desarrollo, Cherkasov, who is currently in exile, defended that for negotiations to take place, a «reliable partner» is necessary.
«But we have a problem with this Russian president. Do you know how we can know or detect that Putin is lying? Because he opens his mouth,» said the member of Memorial, an NGO awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, wondering how to negotiate with the Russian president under these circumstances.
In the same vein, the Ukrainian Oleksandra Romantsova, director of the Center for Civil Liberties of Kiev -also awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize- has pronounced that it is «impossible to have negotiations with people who are not consistent with their words».
«It is not exactly Putin who fully commits war crimes in Ukraine. It is not exactly Putin who bombs,» he specified, adding that «it is a system» and that the process for both sides to sit down at the table can only happen when Moscow stops bombing Ukraine.
Similarly, Belarusian activist Natallia Satsunkevich, who is part of the Viasna Human Rights Center, whose founder is Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski, said that civil society and public opinion can be factors for Belarus, Russia’s ally, not to play a key role in the war.
«People started to publicly protest against the war (in Belarus) and the price of these demonstrations is very high: arrest in the streets, torture, confiscation of your property and they can even take legal action against you,» has listed Satsunkevich, who, in fact, is under criminal prosecution for her activism.
In this regard, she explained that the «regime» of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko controls the information coming into the country about the Russian invasion and, at the same time, «takes part in the war». «The territory is used by the Russian Army for shelling,» he added.
POLITICAL SITUATION IN UKRAINE On the other hand, Romantsova has detailed on Tuesday that the political situation in Ukraine «depends on the war», since the parliamentary elections, scheduled for October 2023, cannot be held in the middle of the Russian invasion against the country.
«We cannot hold elections because it is not safe. And a lot of Ukrainian population is not organized because they are in different countries: they are refugees,» he has said, adding that «in normal times» there are 450 parliamentary representatives, while now the Parliament cannot function normally.
Also, asked about the banning of the opposition party Platform for Life, she pointed out that this is «a pro-Russian party» and assured that many Ukrainians have questioned the decision «why now», since «it was well known» that this party «worked for the Russian authorities» long before the war.
«Fifty percent of these people (its members) escaped from Ukraine two days before the full-scale invasion was declared. Now there is a general prosecutor working with corruption cases and all of them are under different investigations,» he stressed.
Among the eleven opposition political parties banned by the Ukrainian authorities as serving Moscow’s interests and advocating the invasion of Ukraine, Platform for Life was the only one with a truly significant representation in Ukrainian institutions.
With regard to freedom of speech and press, the activist defended that in Ukraine there are constitutionally enshrined rights to peaceful protests. In this regard, she gave the example that a few days ago there was a rally in honor of Mikhail Zhiznevskii, who died during the Euromaidan in 2014.
«How can we safeguard freedom of speech and how can we work against Russian propaganda?» he has asked, referring to several cases within the press in which journalists worked «as propagandists creating an unreal reality.»
Finally, asked about the debate on whether Europe and the allies have been involved «directly» in the war in Ukraine by sending weapons to Kiev, Romantsova made it clear that «there are only Ukrainian military fighting» on the front.
The Ukrainian activist has thus given the example that if a person witnesses a rape of a woman he offers his help in case he is unable to stop the aggressor. «It is the same situation: we are not attacking Russia. When we talk about military equipment, such as tanks (…) we talk about liberating the occupied territory,» she has argued.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
