![]()
Gutsy, but probably suicidal.
Municipal deputies from the Smolninsky District Council in St. Petersburg, the Russian president's hometown, issued a statement calling on Russia's parliament to remove Putin from power and charge him with high treason for launching the war in Ukraine, per the Washington Post.
On Wednesday, Deputy Dmitry Palyuga tweeted out the document, which said, "We believe that the decision made by President Putin to start the special military operation is detrimental to the security of Russia and its citizens."
"The Council of the Smolninskoye Municipal District decided to appeal to the State Duma deputies with a proposal to bring charges of treason against President Putin in order to remove him from office," Palyuga stated in the tweet with the document, adding, "The decision was supported by the majority of the deputies present."
Lawmakers from a municipal council in Moscow's Lomonosovsky district made a similar move, also calling on Putin to resign.
"The rhetoric you and your subordinates have used for a long time is imbued with intolerance and aggression, which in the end has effectively sent our country back into the Cold War era," the local Moscow lawmakers said in a statement, as reported by the Latvia-based investigative outlet The Insider.
"Russia is once again feared and hated, and we are once again threatening the world with nuclear weapons," they added. "In view of the above, we ask that you resign from your post, since your views and your model of government are hopelessly outdated and hinder the development of Russia and its human potential."
