Navalny calls for Russians to protest daily against Ukraine war and calls Putin ‘insane czar’

‘I call on everyone to take to the streets and fight for peace,’ says Kremlin critic

Alexei Navalny at a rally in 2019 (Reuters)

Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has called on Russians to protest against the “aggressive war” in Ukraine – branding Vladimir Putin an “obviously insane czar”.

The prominent Kremlin critic urged people to stage daily demonstrations against Moscow’s military campaign.

“I call on everyone to take to the streets and fight for peace,” his spokesperson wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.

Navalny’s account tweeted: “We - Russia - want to be a nation of peace. Alas, few people would call us that now.

“Let’s at least not become a nation of frightened silent people. Of cowards who pretend not to notice the aggressive war against Ukraine unleashed by our obviously insane czar.”

Navalny has called for people across the world to protest against the war in town squares and outside embassies every day at 7pm and at 2pm on weekends, his spokesperson said.

His movement previously called for a campaign of civil disobedience against Russia’s invasion of its neighbour.

Navalny praised the thousands of people who have already been detained in anti-war protests across Russia, where demonstrations are tightly restricted.

“Putin is not Russia,” his account tweeted. “If there is anything in Russia right now that you can be most proud of, it is those 6824 people who were detained because - without any call - they took to the streets with placards saying ‘No War’”.

Navalny, Putin’s most prominent opponent, was almost killed in a nerve agent attack last year. Russia has denied responsibility.

He was jailed after returning to Russia from Germany following his recovery.

Since then, authorities have clamped down even more tightly on his movement, and key figures have fled into exile after being designated by the authorities as “foreign agents”