On March 17, 2024, Putin, pretending that this is a presidential election, will extend his stay in power for another six years. This election will take place in the context of political repression, destruction of independent media, and control over all areas of public life. In such conditions, any electoral procedures will become a mask behind which they will try to hide the usurpation of power.
In this theater of falsifications, some are meant to play for the public the role of the Russian society that unanimously supports the bloody dictator. These are Vladimir Putin's proxies. They will be selected so that they represent every social sector and every significant group. Their names, merits, and reputations will be used to imitate society's solidarity around the autocrat and his policies: war, isolationism, and repression. These proxies will become Putin's main agitators. They will justify the deaths of tens of thousands of people, sending Russians to their deaths and killing Ukrainians, they will justify the lives broken by repression and the country's crushed future. So that Putin, covered by fake broad support, will continue his meaningless war.
ACF will put anyone who volunteers to campaign for a major war criminal and his crimes on the 6,000 list. We are already starting a campaign to ensure that every proxy of Vladimir Putin who participated in campaigning is sanctioned as a warmonger and contributor to his crimes.
At the same time, we are willing to remove people from the 6,000 list. Those proxies of 2018 who do not participate in the campaign and do not speak out in favor of war with Ukraine. But only if they refuse to support Putin in the 2024 elections.
The implementation of sanctions is always a long process. We call on members of the European Parliament to raise the issue of their imposition against proxies now, as soon as their lists are published. Demonstrative support of Vladimir Putin, who is responsible for the beginning of the aggression and the ongoing series of crimes, should not go unpunished.
The state can silence those who oppose the war with its repression, but active support for the man who started the war remains a personal choice. Those who have volunteered to become proxies will be responsible for that choice. And they should feel the first consequences of their voluntary participation in the crimes already.