from London, Russian dissidents continue their struggle as best they can

Who has the right to truly oppose Vladimir Putin in Russia? Probably no one, as evidenced by the recent death of Alexeï Navalny. While at the end of this week of March 11, a presidential election will undoubtedly return the master of the Kremlin to power, the dissidents in exile are trying to act. This is the case in London where the Russian diaspora is significant.

Alexander Litvinenko was assassinated on British soil. An opponent of Putin, he was poisoned with polonium in 2006 and died in a London hospital. His widow, Marina took over. From a distance, even if it means having difficulty getting your message across. She knows that there, it is too dangerous and ultimately useless. “Every time you hear about a new opposition leader, you don’t know if it’s a creation of the security services or of Putin, she says. This is why I think we need a new mode of opposition, to fight against this regime. Even though I’m not very young anymore, I believe in new technologies.”

The fight via the internet and social networks

Use modern communication channels to reach the young and urban population. This is the work carried out by Vladimir Ashurkov, an anti-corruption activist exiled in the United Kingdom, friend of Alexeï Navalny. Remote agitation, politics via the internet with obvious limits, this is the only way to keep a semblance of resistance alive. It is a way for them to fight against the Putin administration – and its decisions too, such as the war in Ukraine – while preserving the security of their interlocutors who, in Russia, take risks.

“It’s a network made up of tens of thousands of peoplehe explains. We communicate with internet tools that preserve anonymity so we don’t know their name or anything, otherwise it would be dangerous for these people who are campaigning in Russia against the war. But with our experience, we can help them and coordinate actions, from distributing leaflets in a building to evading video surveillance to set fire to military equipment.” The upcoming Russian presidential election means nothing in the eyes of these exiled opponents. To fight against Putin’s regime, they expect more support from the international community.