Thread by @ChakhoyanAndrew

In The Economist, Yulia Navalnaya tells Europe: don’t blame Russians, blame Putin.
I say: she either doesn't understands her own country or deliberately misleads.
Here’s a line-by-line takedown of her lofty but insidious claims 🧵

Navalnaya: But how could they have stopped him, when for over 20 years he systematically destroyed every avenue of political resistance—without facing any serious international consequences?

Russian people aren't the victims.

Shifting responsibility on someone else solves zero problems.
Even in a system of repression, agency matters.
If Navalnaya sees herself as a leader of the so-called Russian opposition but fails to accept the burden of agency, she isn't rejecting Putinism, but validates it.

Strength is not denying responsibility. Strength is admitting it.
@Kasparov63 shows what honesty in opposition looks like: facing Russia’s crimes head-on instead of pretending they belong only to Putin.

Navalnaya: The West needs a democratic, free Russia
Indeed we do. But, if the self-proclaimed leader of democratic movement fails to grasp russian history of conquest & oppression, its colonizer–colonized double bind, then what hope is there for the millions of her compatriots?

To speak of democracy without de-imperialization is to promise the impossible.

Navalnaya: It is also in Europe’s interest to distinguish between Putin and 🇷🇺, between the Putinist dictatorship and ordinary Russian citizens.

Let’s not kid ourselves.
russian culture isn't just Pushkin; it's one that normalizes Moscow's endless colonial conquest & erasure

Let us not conflate guilt with responsibility. The crimes in Ukraine are not the work of a few “bad apples,” but of hundreds of thousands of russian soldiers.
I'm not just talking about the heinous war crimes that russian people commit every day.

By invading Ukraine, moscow-centered terrorist organization has committed the crime of aggression. Every single thing russian invaders do in Ukraine is a crime.

And these crimes are not universally condemned by the russian "society": they are sustained either through active support or passive acquiescence.
To deny this complicity is itself a form of aggression—and it guarantees the cycle of Russian violence will never end.

Navalnaya: Above all, it's in 🇪🇺’s interest to communicate its perspective on global affairs to Russians & show them how they can be part of a free 🇪🇺
How lovely.
let's shift the burden from 🇷🇺 that invaded or occupied nearly every European neighbor it could reach, to 🇪🇺 itself

It is incumbent on russians to prove that they can accept responsibility and sustain self-government without reverting to: invading neighbors, erasing nations, stealing children, and torturing prisoners of war.
If Yulia Navalnaya can't get it, who will?

Yulia Navalnaya published her op-ed 2 days ago — the same tired script.
When I first came across her “advocacy” in Europe, I wrote this 👇
I stand by every word:
kyivindependent.com/opinion-the-ru…

I agree with @TheEconomist: “Europe needs a better Russia strategy.”

But inviting a Russian to explain it, while Ukrainians bury their dead, isn’t how you’ll get one.

I’d be happy to contribute a different perspective.