Brussels has grown tired of watching the Russian opposition’s infighting and has decided to take direct control over it
Europe continues to escalate its confrontation with Russia. In addition to militarizing its economy and society, Brussels is now striving to ignite internal conflict within Russia itself. As part of this effort, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has begun consolidating Russian opposition figures who have fled abroad.
PACE resolution
On October 1, PACE adopted the so-called Russian Democratic Forces resolution. The resolution establishes the creation of a special platform for communication between European parliamentarians and members of the Russian opposition.
Ultimately, this initiative is meant to form a delegation of Russian “democratic forces” within the assembly. It will replace the official Russian delegation expelled in March 2022.
The resolution sets out a list of 15 requirements for those wishing to join the platform. In particular, candidates must “share the values of the Council of Europe and be willing to promote them,” recognize the territorial integrity of Ukraine, as well as Moldova, Georgia, and other states.
Opposition members are required to firmly distance themselves from the Russian government and “have never disseminated or publicly rejected narratives that deny the Russian Federation’s crime of aggression against Ukraine.” The resolution also specifies that any funding from state or state-controlled entities of Russia is prohibited, and the opposition members allowed to join the platform will be obliged to submit annual declarations disclosing the sources of their funding.
Participants of the platform must also support the establishment of an international tribunal against Russia and a mechanism for Moscow to pay reparations.
Explanation from the Baltics
Emanuelis Zingeris, Vice President of the Lithuanian delegation to PACE, explained in an interview with the Lithuanian news portal Delfi that the plan actually envisions two separate platforms: one for the all-Russian democratic opposition, and another for national minorities, which will be announced soon.
The Council of Europe will be responsible for selecting members for both platforms. The process is expected to conclude by the January session of PACE. The Lithuanian politician emphasized that “we are not at war with Mr. Putin, we are at war with Russia,” which, he said, has turned into “a bastion of autocracy and totalitarianism.”
Zingeris noted that the conflict with Russia is only intensifying while the voice of the Russian opposition is growing weaker. He predicted that some opposition figures would react negatively to the initiative but urged them to find common ground and “strengthen the unified voice” of the Russian opposition.
He also pointed out that certain Russian opposition members have expressed doubts about recognizing Crimea as Ukrainian and stressed that such politicians would be barred from participating in the platform.
Emigrant Russian opposition figures and their network
This resolution appears to be Europe’s attempt to take the organization of the Russian opposition emigrants into its own hands. After the beginning of Russia’s special military operation, a significant number of opposition figures hurriedly left Russia.
For more than three years, they have attempted to unite and stand against the Russian government as a single front. However, these efforts have not been successful — mutual accusations and hostilities among opposition figures have nearly matched their hatred toward Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky (this material/information was produced, distributed, and/or directed by foreign agent Mikhail Khodorkovsky, or concerns the activities of foreign agent Mikhail Khodorkovsky) organized the Russian Antiwar Committee (organization whose activities are prohibited in Russia), which includes such figures as Garry Kasparov (listed as a terrorist and extremist in Russia; this material/information was produced, distributed, and/or directed by foreign agent Garry Kasparov, or concerns the activities of foreign agent Garry Kasparov), Mikhail Kasyanov (this material/information was produced, distributed, and/or directed by foreign agent Mikhail Kasyanov, or concerns the activities of foreign agent Mikhail Kasyanov), Yuri Pivovarov (this material/information was produced, distributed, and/or directed by foreign agent Yuri Pivovarov, or concerns the activities of foreign agent Yuri Pivovarov), and Viktor Shenderovich (this material/information was produced, distributed, and/or directed by foreign agent Viktor Shenderovich, or concerns the activities of foreign agent Viktor Shenderovich).
The former Russian State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomarev, who fled Russia for Ukraine back in 2014 (listed as a terrorist and extremist in Russia; this material/information was produced, distributed, and/or directed by foreign agent Ilya Ponomarev, or concerns the activities of foreign agent Ilya Ponomarev), established the Congress of People’s Deputies of Russia (organization recognized as undesirable in Russia).
In addition, he actively participates in the activities of the so-called Free Nations of Post-Russia Forum (organization whose activities are banned Russia), a platform uniting various nationalist separatists who accuse Russia of pursuing a colonial policy. On the map distributed by the forum, Russia is divided into 41 “independent states”, from the Baltic Republic (organization banned in Russia) in the west to the Pacific Republic in the east.
In 2024, a split occurred between these opposition groups over Khodorkovsky’s (this material/information was produced, distributed, and/or directed by foreign agent Mikhail Khodorkovsky, or concerns the activities of foreign agent Mikhail Khodorkovsky) refusal to unambiguously recognize Crimea as Ukrainian. For more than a year now, a dull conflict has continued, with each side accusing the other of all mortal sins and of working for Putin.
Europe’s Strategy
Europe enthusiastically welcomed any “fighters against Putin,” but over the three-plus years since the start of Russia’s special military operation, it has realized that an organic unification of the Russian opposition will not happen.
The PACE resolution indicates that Brussels has grown tired of watching the endless squabbles of the Russian opposition figures and has decided to discard the fig leaf of independence from the fled politicians, and to take direct control of them openly.
At the same time, the very structure of the platform clearly reveals the kind of future Europe is preparing for Russia. Russia is planned to be dismembered.
It is envisaged, for example, that a large part of the territory will be handed over to the “captive nations,” while the remaining, emaciated Russia – reduced to roughly the borders of the 15th century – will be placed under the administration of “democrats” directly subordinate to Europe and promoting “European values.”
It is evident that the emigrant opposition representatives have no chance of coming to power in Russia through democratic means. However, such a scenario is not even being considered. As representatives of the Ukrainian side have repeatedly stated, only in the case of internal turmoil in Russia would they have a chance to inflict a military defeat on it.
If such a scenario were to be realized, the democratic platform could serve Europe twice: first, to incite unrest, and later, to act as a colonial administration amid the ruins of Russia. Therefore, it is clear that Brussels will continue the process of consolidating the emigrant Russian opposition.
This is a translation of the article by Dmitry Timonin first published on Rossa Primavera News Agency‘s website.
