The Russians are beginning to feel the effects of international sanctions. And the protests, although violently repressed, multiplied. Could the master of the Kremlin fall? Sergueï Parkhomenko, famous opponent in exile, does not exclude it. Maintenance.
At 58, Sergei Parkhomenko is both a star journalist, who writes a popular column on Moscow's Echo radio – which was scuttled on Thursday March 3 after being banned from the air – and a famous opponent. Threatened by power, he has been living in Greece for ten months. At "l'Obs", he recounts the awakening of Russian civil society since the invasion of Ukraine and describes the weaknesses of the Putin system.
Ten years ago, during the great popular demonstrations against Vladimir Putin, you were with Alexeï Navalny , one of the leaders of the opposition, and you saw Russian power tremble on its foundations. Today, do you think that the war in Ukraine could have the same effect, or even lead to the fall of the regime?
It's possible. The Putin system has several weaknesses. The greatest, in my opinion, is the astonishing ignorance of the master of the Kremlin. Of today's world, of its evolution, of the aspirations of his own people, he knows nothing. On television, we see him regularly meeting "normal" people, who are presented as teachers, gas workers or orderlies. In reality, they are actors, always the same ones, who change costumes and who we end up recognizing. He knows nothing about Russians on the street.
Imagine that, since he has been in power, so for twenty-two years, he has never used a smartphone or a computer. He is convinced that the internet is an invention of the CIA, a "special operation".