BERLIN (AP) — Prominent Russian opposition figures led a march of at least 1,000 people in central Berlin on Sunday, criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine and calling for democracy in Russia.
Behind a banner that reads ‘No Putin. No war,” the protesters were led by Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of top Putin critic Alexei Navalny, as well as Ilya Yashin and Vladimir Kara-Murza, who were released from Russian detention this summer in a high-profile prisoner swap.
The demonstrators shouted “Russia without Putin” and other chants in Russian and held up signs with a wide range of messages on a red background, including “Putin = War” and “Putin is a murderer” in German.
Some marched with the flags of Russia or Ukraine, as well as a white-blue-white flag used by some Russian opposition groups.
Organizers said the march started near Potsdamer Platz and passed through the Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie and was expected to end outside the Russian embassy.
“The march demands the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, the trial of Vladimir Putin as a war criminal and the release of all political prisoners in Russia,” the demonstrators said in a statement.
Yashin said in a statement ahead of the demonstration that protesters “used the freedom we have here in Berlin to show the world: there is a peaceful, free and civilized Russia.”
Navalnaya, Yashin and Kara-Murza all hailed Sunday’s meeting as a show of unity at a time when recent rounds of bitterness have roiled the anti-war camp.
Russia’s anti-war opposition in exile has so far largely failed to speak with one voice and present a clear plan of action.
The historic prisoner swap between East and West in August freed key dissidents and promised to revive a movement loosened by the prison death of Navalny, a charismatic anti-corruption activist and arch-enemy of the Kremlin.
Instead, tensions have increased in recent months, as Navalny’s allies and other prominent dissidents traded accusations that appeared to destroy any hope of a united anti-Kremlin front.
Many opposition-minded Russians have expressed deep frustration with the infighting, and with what some see as attempts by rival groups to discredit each other and steal influence.
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Associated Press writer Joanna Kozlowska in London contributed to this report.
