Local St. Petersburg Deputies Urge Putin be Removed

The Council of the Smolninskoye municipal formation in St. Petersburg has adopted a desicion to call on deputies of the State Duma, Russia’s highest legislative body, to bring treason charges against President Putin in order to dismiss him from office.

This was announced by the Smolninskoe Ministry of Defense deputy, Dmitry Palyuga.

“The decision was supported by the majority of deputies present,” Palyuga said, without stating precisely how many deputies approved the decision.

He also posted the texts of the decision and the appeal, which are planned to be sent to the deputies of the State Duma.

It says that “young able-bodied” Russian citizens are dying during the war, the Russian economy is suffering, NATO is expanding to the east, and Ukraine is receiving new weapons (although Putin called the “demilitarization” of the country one of the goals of the invasion).

“We believe President Putin’s decision to launch it (“the special military operation”) harms the security of Russia and its citizens. Given that, we ask you, as a deputy of the State Duma, to come up with a proposal to bring charges of treason against the President of the Russian Federation to remove him from office,” the appeal states.

However, Palyuga did not specify how many deputies would receive the text of the appeal.

Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February, deputies of the Smolninskoye Ministry of Defense sent an appeal to Putin to stop the war and resign. They also wanted to hold an anti-war rally in St. Petersburg but the city authorities refused to permit it.

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