The EU Has Stated That Russian Citizens Have The Opportunity To Overthrow Putin
- 24.09.2026, 8:59
And end the war.
European Commission spokesperson Arianna Podesta stated that Russian citizens can overthrow Vladimir Putin’s regime to end the war against Ukraine and bring about change within the country. “It is up to the Russian people themselves whether they will have a government that supports this war or not. Therefore, if Russian citizens are experiencing the consequences of this war firsthand, they have the opportunity to take action against it from within the country,” Podesta said.
She was responding to a question from “Vot Tak” regarding a comment by Yulia Navalnaya, who criticized the EU’s decision to lift sanctions against Russian oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman and, at the same time, drew attention to the problems Russians who oppose the war face with legal residency in the EU.
The day before, EU countries removed Usmanov and Friedman from the sanctions list, while simultaneously extending restrictions against nearly 3,000 Russia-linked individuals and entities for three years. According to Reuters, the decision was the result of pressure from France and Luxembourg.
As Bloomberg, in turn, reported, Vladimir Putin has repeatedly told oligarchs in recent years that personal sanctions against them do not concern him, and that they should find a way out of the situation on their own. According to Bloomberg’s sources, Usmanov was ultimately helped by his relationships with leaders in the Caucasus and Central Asia, while the lifting of restrictions on Friedman came as a surprise even to Friedman himself.
On September 23, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev granted a pardon to French citizen Martin Ryan, who had been sentenced in Azerbaijan to 10 years in prison on espionage charges. The decision was made the day after Usmanov was removed from the EU sanctions list. According to Euronews, Ryan’s release may have been part of an agreement between Paris and Baku related to the lifting of sanctions against Usmanov. The French authorities, however, deny such an agreement.
Luxembourg, for its part, had demanded the lifting of sanctions against Friedman. Earlier, the billionaire had filed a $15.8 billion arbitration claim against the country, and Luxembourg argued that its position in that proceeding would be weakened if the EU removed only Usmanov from the list.