Leonid Ragozin argues that Western leaders cannot meaningfully support Russia’s antiwar opposition while treating Russians as collectively responsible for Putin’s invasion. Much of Russia’s organized civil society has already been forced into exile, and even minor acts of dissent can bring years in prison.
The essay traces how Western policy can reinforce the Kremlin’s story:
- Maximalist talk of defeating or dismembering Russia turns Putin’s war into a supposed struggle for national survival.
- The abandoned diplomatic opening after Ukraine’s 2022 battlefield gains gave way to a failed pursuit of total military victory.
- Ordinary antiwar exiles face nationality-based restrictions while wealthy oligarchs can win relief from sanctions.
- European institutions praise Russian dissent in theory while marginalizing credible opposition groups and discarding dissidents’ legal claims.
Ragozin’s criticism is aimed at both Putin’s dictatorship and the Western war industry. Calls for Russians to overthrow their government sound hollow when they come from states whose policies isolate dissidents, reward connected elites, and keep narrowing the space for negotiation.
The antiwar takeaway is uncomfortable but necessary: solidarity means taking repression seriously, resisting xenophobia, and asking whether Ukrainians and Russian dissidents are being protected—or used as instruments of a geopolitical project that benefits from a prolonged war.