Forum of the Free Peoples of Russia: Russian opposition holds talks in Prague

Among other things, he praised the Czech Republic for its support of the attacked country with the supply of weapons. According to him, trust and a willingness to help each other are important in mutual relations. “From my point of view, this is the basis for us to be allies. It’s like the Musketeers in the famous Dumas novel: One for all and all for one. (Czech-Ukrainian relations) are moving in this direction,” believes Klimkin.

According to him, some Western countries made a fundamental mistake when they did not correctly assess the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “She didn’t understand that this regime doesn’t want to follow the rules,” means the former diplomat who served as foreign minister from 2014 to 2019, when Petro Poroshenko was president. He called the help of the West after Russian invasion troops invaded Ukraine on February 24 as delayed. “There was no early response and it was not very quick in terms of arms deliveries. It is an evolutionary process. It is also about the economic resilience of Ukraine, and even here it is not sufficient and fast enough, but it is coming,” noted Klimkin.

Russia will disappear from the first league of the world

According to him, the head of the Kremlin understands only clear power. “They don’t believe in a win-win deal. When he wins, someone loses. When he loses, someone wins.” says Klimkin, who now leads his own projects in Ukraine in the fields of education, foreign relations and European integration, among others.

At the same time, he described Russia as a declining power, economically or demographically. “Putin may achieve some mobilization, but ultimately it is a decline in power. And that, especially in the case of a regime like this, can be extremely dangerous. That’s exactly what we see,” noted Klimkin, according to whom Russia will disappear from the “first league of the world” from an economic point of view. “He will be somewhere in the second league. And the people in Moscow clearly understand that,” said the former head of Ukrainian diplomacy.

According to him, Western sanctions are falling on the world’s largest country and Putin is facing failure. “Everyone understands that this empire is not capable of defeating Ukraine. Putin understands that the sanctions will remain, perhaps some could be lifted, but the essential ones will remain,” believes Klimkin, according to which the head of the Kremlin will try to negotiate some kind of agreement with the West. “It’s not just his war in Ukraine, but … strategic weapons, arms control, oil and gas prices, a lot of things. And without solving Ukraine, it is impossible to solve anything,” stated

“He will try to knock on any door, secretly of course, and want to make a deal,” believes Klimkin, according to which Moscow will want to bypass Kyiv. At the same time, it could try to use the period before winter in particular, with regard to Russian gas and rising food prices. It is necessary not to make any concessions that would destroy the foundations of Ukrainian statehood and the nation, warns the former politician. “I don’t believe in a peace agreement. I could imagine a ceasefire, but not a peace agreement with this regime. Any break will be used for the sole purpose of regrouping and attacking again, be it conventional or hybrid.” he said.

“We never know, maybe it will lead to the collapse of the regime”

At the conference of the Russian opposition, whose representatives came to Prague discuss the radical reconstruction of their country and its transformation for the benefit of individual nations and regions, is unofficially to support them. “The Russian war in Ukraine changed everything,” he says, adding that many Russians have seen “the light at the end of the tunnel.” “Many of them believed that it was apparently too difficult, if not impossible, to achieve their goals. Now they began to believe in themselves. They believe they can win,” he states, referring to one of the goals of the conference organizers, which is “the decolonization of indigenous peoples and regions from imperial Moscow.”

“They are people with different histories, from different parts of Russia, but they really come together,” means Klimkin. They are said to have realized that if the Ukrainians succeed in the fight against the Russian regime, they could too. “In what way, that’s up to them. Representatives of Russia. It is not in our interest to fight for them, but to support them intellectually,” says Klimkin, according to whom this process is also positive for Ukraine. “We never know, maybe it will lead to the collapse of the regime, maybe something else. But it’s important to support these special emotions that they have a chance.” supplies.

“It didn’t even take 24 hours for Russia to aim its missiles at the port of Odessa, breaking its promises and undermining its commitments made in the Istanbul agreement adopted in the presence of the UN and Turkey,” Oleh Nikolenko, spokesman for Ukrainian diplomacy, wrote on Twitter. According to him, the Russian missile attack “spitting in the face of UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan”who significantly helped to reach the agreement.

Guterres “unequivocally condemned” the attack said his spokesman Farhan Haq, reminding that the agreement on the export of grain was undertaken by both sides on Friday. “These commodities are desperately needed to address the food crisis and will ease the suffering of millions of needy people around the world.”

“We announced the fundraiser for the ambulance on Thursday and we already have more than 2 million dollars (48 million CZK). This means that we will be able to purchase 20 C-type ambulances to save the lives of Ukrainians in hot spots and in the rear,” Olena Zelenská, the wife of the Ukrainian president, wrote on Instagram. And she added video examples of how much ambulances are needed.

“The Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen starts today at 16:15 and will be watched by more than 20 countries. I believe that together we will be able to collect even more funds,” she added as the host of the online event.

The Governor of the Pilsen Region, Rudolf Špoták, went to Cham in Bavaria, where his colleagues handed him humanitarian aid for Ukraine, which was selected by local companies. It mainly concerns electronics: Refrigerators, power plants, power banks, microwaves… The Pilsen region will arrange joint transport to the Ivano-Frankivsk region in the south-west of Ukraine.

“We will also transport electronics, medical supplies and an ambulance there in the second truck,” Špoták told Náš region.

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