The trend has accelerated since March 17, when Putin was charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court. Although dismissed by Russia as legally void, given that it is not a member of the ICC, the arrest warrant highlights the fact that Putin has no way out – and therefore nothing to lose. No – when it comes to relations with the West.
“It seems that Putin really doesn’t care what the West is thinking … He just wants to go all out in his repression and his war,” Tenzer said in a telephone interview.
Maria Alyokhina, a member of the Pussy Riot feminist punk group who spent nearly two years in a Russian penal colony for protesting against the Kremlin, described the treatment of Navalny and Kara-Murza as “pure sadism” on the part of Putin and the authorities. described. ,
“They’re in a war and they’re losing the war. And they’re mad about it. They’re seeking revenge, out of powerlessness, out of fear, out of rage, a combination of all these things. I don’t think in that sense they Will stop,” he told Reuters.
“You probably think it can’t get worse, but it can.”
