JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia’s opposition and Ukraine find it impossible to unite against Putin” – Washington Post
“… Russia’s liberals … walk[] a tightrope. Their opposition to the war puts them at odds with much of their own society …. [M]any Ukrainians still feel … the Russian opposition has not gone far enough in condemning the killing of Ukrainians and occupation of their lands, instead opposing the war from a Russian viewpoint, focused predominantly on the losses of Russian soldiers and the conflict’s impact on the Russian population. Navalny, who spent summers with his Ukrainian grandparents, had historically espoused the idea that Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians are one people, and that Crimea … was historically … part of Russia. Navalny, a self-described Russian patriot, also at one point courted ultranationalist groups in an unsuccessful bid to form a broader anti-Putin coalition. But Navalny had walked back these statements, most recently with … a 15-point plan to dismantle Putin’s dictatorship and return Ukraine to its pre-1991 borders, including Crimea. The plan proposed to pay compensation to Ukraine and investigate Russian war crimes. …”