Russian exiled opposition stages major anti-war protest

BERLIN: At least a thousand supporters of Russia´s exiled opposition marched on Sunday through central Berlin in its first major demonstration against Moscow´s invasion of Ukraine.

Aimed at reviving the movement riven by internal conflicts, the protesters marched towards Moscow´s embassy in the German capital -- with Berlin home to thousands of Ukrainian refugees and Russian critics of President Vladimir Putin.

With the march serving as a litmus test of the opposition in exile´s credibility, organisers estimated up to 2,000 supporters rallied to the cause despite darkening skies, chanting “No to the war” and “Russia without Putin”.

In recent years the Kremlin has eradicated any political competition at home and waged a massive crackdown on dissent, with hundreds -- possibly thousands -- of Russians in prison for their political views.

Putin has been in power for almost 25 years, and all of his significant political opponents are now dead, jailed or in exile.

“It is important to show that Russians and Russian speakers are not all for Putin, as the whole world might think, but that they also defend liberal democratic values, that they are against war and murder,” protester and 21-year-old student Polina Zelenskaya told AFP.

The Russian opposition lost its main figurehead in February, when Putin´s rival Alexei Navalny died in an Arctic prison in mysterious circumstances.