Representatives of the Russian opposition in exile are holding informal talks with Ukrainian representatives, seeking to build a political bridge between Kiev and the anti-Putin part of Russian society. This was revealed to Politico by journalist and activist Vladimir Kara-Murza - a former political prisoner, with dual Russian and British citizenship and a Pulitzer Prize winner, News.bg reports.
Although both sides - the Ukrainian government and the Russian opposition - are united in their opposition to Vladimir Putin, substantial cooperation has so far been lacking. The main obstacle is Kiev's deep distrust of Russian opposition figures, with many Ukrainians suspecting that even Putin's opponents are often not entirely free from imperial thinking, including over the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Kara-Murza, who was released from a Siberian prison in a prisoner exchange last year, said the talks with Ukrainian officials were being held confidentially. "We want this dialogue to reach the highest level," he said, in a clear hint of a desire to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
His comments came after a statement to the European Parliament in Brussels, where Kara-Murza spoke alongside Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in an Arctic prison in 2024. According to his team, he was killed on the orders of the Kremlin.
The discussion also included Ilya Yashin, another opposition politician and former prisoner, who suggested that the EU mediate a possible dialogue between the Ukrainian government and the democratic Russian opposition. “We are not enemies of Ukraine and we want it to preserve its independence“, Yashin stressed, adding that President Zelensky had given signals of readiness for dialogue.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has not yet commented on the topic.
Kara-Murza also warned that Putin should not be allowed to win the war, emphasizing the feeling of "fatigue" from the conflict in Western societies.
The disagreements between Ukrainians and representatives of the Russian opposition often stem from differences in understandings of responsibility for the war. For many in Ukraine, ordinary Russians are also to blame, while oppositionists insist that the war is Putin’s personal project and the Russian people are the victims.
These tensions have also been heightened at the diplomatic level. According to the Washington Post, Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, declined an invitation to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address because she was supposed to be with Yulia Navalnaya — who later also declined to attend.
In April, Kara-Murza caused a scandal by making remarks in the French Senate in which he said that it was “easier for non-Russian soldiers to kill Ukrainians” because of language and cultural differences. The comment, which included the line “we are almost the same – same language, same religion, centuries of common history“, was sharply criticized by Ukrainians and representatives of other former Soviet republics as an expression of post-imperial attitudes.
Kara-Murza later explained that his words had been taken out of context and that he was conveying someone else's point of view, not his own.
Despite the efforts at rapprochement, many in Ukraine remain skeptical. In their opinion, the main issue is not only the anti-Putin position, but whether the Russian opposition is really ready to accept Ukrainian sovereignty, including with regard to Crimea, and to free itself from the historical burdens of Russian domination.