Alexander Lunin, a former frontline soldier, publicly demanded a conversation with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin about the war in Ukraine. Instead, the Russian police are now searching for him, according to the opposition website Medusa, citing Lunin’s wife Tatiana.
The police conducted a nighttime search of Lunin’s accommodation in the village of Lisinovka in the Voronezh region but did not find him. All electronic devices in his house were confiscated. Lunin’s wife Tatiana stated that she did not know where her husband currently was, as he had left for Moscow the day before.
In a video that attracted widespread attention in Russia, Lunin said he needed to tell Putin the “whole truth about what is happening in our country” during a live audience. He criticized that soldiers at the front are being exploited, tormented, and sacrificed by their superiors. “If I do not appear live on television next to you soon, then the army will turn its weapons on the Kremlin,” he threatened.
The video was viewed about ten million times within a short period and received hundreds of thousands of likes. Criticism of Russia’s conduct of the war is growing louder, even within the military itself, forcing Moscow to respond.
The Kremlin has taken note of Lunin’s video and his demand for a conversation with Putin. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, confirmed on Friday in response to journalists’ questions that the situation must first be examined. Criticism of the conduct of the war in Russia is usually met with drastic sanctions.
Source: www.tagesspiegel.de
