Councillors in Putin’s home city call for him to face TREASON charges over the war in Ukraine

Councillors in Vladimir Putin’s home city have called for the Russian president to be charged with treason and forced out of office over the war in Ukraine. 

The group of councillors in Smolninskoye, a municipality in St Petersburg where Putin was born, made the extraordinary appeal to the Russian parliament. 

They complained that Putin’s war in Ukraine has left thousands of Russian soldiers dead and damaged the country’s economy.

‘Young able-bodied citizens are dying and being maimed,’ the councillors warned.

The Russian economy is suffering, NATO is expanding, and Ukraine is acquiring new modern equipment due to Putin’s foolhardy policies, they said.

‘We have listed the reasons why we believe that this is high treason,’ said one of the councillors in the municipal authority, Nikita Yuferev, 34.

The group of councillors in Smolninskoye, a municipality in St Petersburg where Putin was born, made the extraordinary appeal to the Russian parliament

The councillors said that Russians must understand that ‘as a result of Putin’s actions, the land border between Russia and NATO has doubled.’

Since Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine six months ago, his forces have suffered heavy losses in men and equipment while being fought to a virtual standstill after occupying around a fifth of the country.

Precision strikes conducted by Ukrainian forces using high-tech Western weapons are undermining Russia’s ability to fight and Moscow is turning to outdated arms as its stocks of more modern gear run down. 

And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke of ‘good news’ on the battlefields of eastern Ukraine today, saying his army had retaken some towns and villages from Russia. 

Putin’s war ‘harms the security of Russia and its citizens’, said Dmitry Palyuga, 35, who backed the demand for Putin to be charged with treason over the war in Ukraine. 

‘One of the Russian president’s declared goals is to demilitarise Ukraine, and we see exactly the opposite happening,’ Palyuga told The Insider.

Ukrainian servicemen riding a BTR amphibious armoured personnel carrier (APC) drive out of Bakhmut, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, on Wednesday

The councillors complained that Putin’s war in Ukraine has left thousands of Russian soldiers dead and damaged the country’s economy

‘Not that we fully support the goals declared by President Putin, but simply within his own rhetoric he is damaging the security of the Russian Federation.

‘We want to show people that there are [democratic representatives] who don’t agree with the current course and think Putin is harming Russia.

‘We want to show people that we are not afraid to talk about it.’

The local politicians understand their demand has no hope of success in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament which Putin’s stooges control.

Despite this they have gone ahead with the demand.

‘It is very important to show that there are people who do not agree [with the war],’ said Yuferev.

‘We are in Russia, and there are quite a significant number of us,’ he said.

The treason demand against Putin was pushed through by ten councillors who attended out of 20, enough for a quorum.

The voting was seven for with three abstentions.

The councillors’ demand for Putin to face treason charges for his war in Ukraine is a rare case of open opposition to the war. Those who have criticized Putin’s invasion have often died in mysterious circumstances.

Last week, the chairman of a Russian oil company that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was found dead in suspicious circumstances after he plunged from a sixth floor window at a Moscow hospital.

Ravil Maganov, 67, chairman of Russian oil giant Lukoil, died on the spot after falling from a window on the sixth floor of the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow at around 7.30am local time on 1 September.

Ravil Maganov, 67, (pictured with Putin after receiving a medal) chairman of Russian oil giant LUKOIL, died on the spot after falling from a window on the 6th floor of the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow at around 7.30am local time on 1 September

Russian state media quickly said his death was a suicide but law enforcement sources said there was no suicide note and there were no CCTV cameras on the section of the building where Maganov fell.

Lukoil, of which Maganov was chairman, was one of the few major Russian companies to call for the end of fighting in Ukraine after Moscow invaded.

In a statement in the days after the invasion, the Lukoil board called for an ‘immediate’ end to the fighting, expressing its sympathy to those affected by the ‘tragedy’.

And seven months later, Maganov has been found dead after falling from the hospital window. 

His death is the latest of a number of top Russian officials who have died in suspicious circumstances in recent months – with many mysteriously falling out of windows.

Maganov is also now among a series of Russian energy tycoons killed in suspicious circumstances.

In May, billionaire Alexander Subbotin, 43, a former top executive with energy giant Lukoil, was found dead under mysterious circumstances.   

The oligarch, who owned a lucrative shipping company, was reportedly treated with toad venom – put into an incision that had been made in his skin.

Soon afterwards, Subbotin had a heart attack and was given a tranquilliser from the herb valerian.