Removing Putin won’t change anything in Russia - Ukrainian diplomat
Photo: Volodymyr Ohryzko (RBC-Ukraine)
If we simply overthrow Vladimir Putin, nothing will change. The people of Russia will find another dictator, says Ukrainian diplomat and former Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko.
“The masses don’t want freedom. They wouldn’t know what to do with it. It doesn’t matter to them what flag they live under. Blue? Fine. Green? Fine. Red? Fine. As long as they have their rations, as long as they’re left alone, all is well,” he says.
Ohryzko believes that after the war is over, Russians should undergo the same denazification as the Germans went through after World War II.
“Nazism had to be purged from German minds, poisoned by fascist ideology. Similarly, this ideology of ‘Rashism’ will have to be cleansed from Russian minds. Rashism is now the dominant ideology in Russia, distorting views on everything. It will take a generation or two, maybe three, for these territories to gradually emerge from this Rashist yoke, primarily the emotional and mental yoke,” he adds.
According to him, then we can hope that after a certain period, this territory will gradually move to something more or less adequate. “But not as a unified state. I am convinced this structure won’t hold together for long,” summarizes Ohryzko.
75% of Ukrainians are convinced that relations with Russia should be based on closed borders, visas, and customs. 86% of all respondents said that Russians living in Russia should not be allowed to enter Ukraine at all.
