Leader of Russian opposition changes his mind on Crimea: he wants to recognise Ukraine's 1991 borders

Alexei Navalny, Russian opposition leader and political prisoner, has published the agenda of his political platform, which include respect for Ukraine's internationally recognised 1991 borders and compensation for damage caused by the Russian war of aggression.

Source: 15 points of Navalny's political platform, posted by Latvia-based Russian media outlet Meduza

Quote: "What are Ukraine's borders? The same as Russia's – internationally recognised, and defined in 1991. We, Russia, also recognized them back then. Russia must recognise these borders now. There is nothing to discuss here. Nearly all the borders in the world are accidental and cause someone's discontent. But we cannot fight to change them in the twenty-first century. Otherwise, the world will plunge into chaos."

Details: Navalny proposes "to leave Ukraine alone and allow it to develop as its people wish to," which means "to stop the aggression, end the war and withdraw all Russian troops from the territory of Ukraine."

"[Russia should] seek acceptable ways to compensate for the damage caused to Ukraine together with Ukraine, the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom. For example (after the change of power in Russia and the end of the war), by lifting restrictions on our oil and gas, but with a share of the income from hydrocarbon exports being used for compensation," the oppositionist's principles state.

Details: He also suggests investigating war crimes in cooperation with international institutions.

Navalny emphasises that it will be "not only good for Russia and its people, but also very beneficial for them to end the war as soon as possible, as this is the only way to start moving towards lifting sanctions, bringing back those who left [Russia], recovering business confidence, and economic growth."

"I would like to emphasise once again that after the war, we will have to compensate Ukraine for the damage caused by Putin's aggression. However, the recovering of normal economic relations with the civilised world and the revival of economic growth will allow us to do this without interfering with our country's development. We are at the bottom, and in order to surface, we need to push off from it. It will be morally right, rational, and profitable," he writes.

Navalny advocates "dismantling the Putin regime and its dictatorship, ideally through free general elections and the convening of a constitutional assembly."

He also proposes the establishment of a parliamentary republic in Russia, "based on the change of power through fair elections, an independent judiciary, federalism, local self-government, full economic freedom and social justice."

Background:

• In 2014, following Russia's occupation of Crimea, Navalny, answering a question regarding the peninsula, said: "Is Crimea a sandwich with sausage or what? To turn it back and forth..."

• In 2016, Navalny said that he intended to hold a "normal" referendum in Russian-occupied Crimea if he won the Russian presidential election.

• In 2021, Dmytro Kuleba, Ukrainian Foreign Minister, urged Ukrainians not to be too enamoured by Navalny and said that "the sandwich will have to be given back, unbitten and fresh, in good condition."

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