Deputies in 18 districts have released a joint statement demanding the Russian President Putin to resign

By Somya Agrawal Published on September 13, 2022, 00:14 IST

According to the Anonymous Operations post, a petition has been signed by municipal officials from 18 districts in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the neighboring town of Kolpino claiming that Vladimir Putin’s actions are “harming Russia’s future and its citizens” and demanding him to resign from the post of President.

JUST IN: Deputies in 18 districts of Moscow and St Petersburg have released a joint statement demanding that Putin resign.#FckPutin #ByeByePutin pic.twitter.com/7pMaAoDh5d

— Anonymous Operations (@AnonOpsSE) September 12, 2022

A legislator from St. Petersburg’s Semyonovsky municipal district named Ksenia Tortstrem tweeted on September 12 that she was still collecting signatures for the petition and that just under 20 lawmakers had already done so.

Since Putin invaded Ukraine without warning in late February, cracks have appeared in his tight grip on dissidents, especially after Ukraine declared success in the battle to retake Russian territory in the country’s northeast.

Last week, a text was submitted to the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, demanding that Putin be punished with high treason since his decision to launch a conflict with Ukraine jeopardized the security of Russia and its people. Legislators from the Smolny municipal district in Putin’s home city of St. Petersburg gave their approval to the text.

The MPs were later summoned by the police on charges of disparaging the country’s military forces.

Invoking the need for a change in leadership, MPs in Moscow’s Lomonosov Municipal Territory condemned and demanded Putin’s resignation last week.

To dominate the narrative surrounding the conflict in Ukraine, which began in late February, the Kremlin approved a law in early March that calls for severe prison sentences for publishing “deliberately false information” regarding Russian military activity.

Additionally, anyone who advocates for sanctions against Russia risks a three-year prison sentence for “making arguments against the use of Russian armed force to defend Russia’s interests” or “for discrediting such use.”