Dmitry Muratov, the editor-in-chief of the opposition daily Novaya Gazeta and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient in 2021, expressed his regret in an online video.
“We are in pain,” Muratov added. “On President Putin’s instructions, our nation has launched a war against Ukraine. Nobody is able to stop it. As a result, shame has been added to our misery.”
The creators of the “Immortal Regiment,” a group close to the Kremlin since it is charged with maintaining the memory of World War II dead, called on Putin to “stop firing,” calling the use of force as “inhuman.”
The Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow, which was created by Kremlin-connected tycoon and Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich, announced its closure on Saturday, citing a refusal to “keep the appearance of normalcy.”
In addition, two communist MPs who voted for the recognition of pro-Russian rebels’ independence in eastern Ukraine have condemned Russia’s incursion.
“Instead of voting for war, I voted for peace. I voted for Russia to act as a shield [for separatists], rather than for Kyiv to be attacked “Mikhail Matveyev, a member of parliament, wrote about it.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the celebrities and “thousands and thousands” of nameless Russians who spoke out against the invasion, and begged them to stop those who “lie to the entire world.”
Putin has called Zelensky and his administration “terrorists” and “a band of drug addicts and neo-Nazis,” and has urged the country’s military to overthrow them.
