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event perfect so thank you for taking time to uh chat with me today and with the kiev post on be on whose behalf we're doing this quick interview with you so first i guess uh we'll start with
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what's going on now uh how do you think the situation in ukraine has changed how do you think putin's calculation of the situation in ukraine has changed since the start of the war look i'm not a military expert so i
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don't think you know i have the same authority to talk about you know war games as about uh chess games but judging from what i could you know i could hear analyze so it looks clearly
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that ukraine is doing much better now it's it's too early to uh call this is it's done i think we still have many many more months ahead of us of of exhausting
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fights um because russia still has plenty of resources to throw into the uh flames of the war but the latest news uh especially from the north are very encouraging and i think that is this this is
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something else now is just becoming a factor which probably is underestimated by many in in the west uh it's the it's a psychological fact um i think the morale is
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is these days is always probably as important as as military equipment and uh naturally the morale of russian soldiers keeps deteriorating and it seems to me though again i cannot judge
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you know from afar that ukrainians they got to the point where they're willing to bear any cost to liberate their country and to to to defeat uh defeat the enemy and also the uh
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the continuation of the war will have dramatic effect uh uh inside russia uh you you have booty backs still arriving not to the big cities to the countryside a poor countryside uh but um
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the numbers keep growing numbers keeps uh keep growing so we don't know we don't know exact number but the latest paper that was released by uh or actually leaked from the minister of defense in russia it estimates the
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number of debt close to fifty thousand and uh that's um that's that's a big number to to to to deal with even in business russia and also those who come back you know wounded or just you know
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somehow this is demobilized they they will create chaos it's this is it's um you know we in america we experience you know this the syndrome you know post-war syndrome but uh these guys will come
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back in just to a very different environment it's it's uh where you know there will be subject to probably some power abuse and they could respond so again situation russia you know for me from my
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perspectives is just it's it's going to deteriorate will be deteriorating and we have a combination of factors as the it's a war in ukraine that is not going put its way and sanctions sanctions
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keep you know keep still it's not decisive effect on russian economy but they keep biting and i think people feel more and more the heat of the war and when these two trends meet
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you know the the the negative um uh results uh from the war from uh the war um front lines and uh increased pressure of sanctions then we'll see whether putin can can uh
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can hold his grip on power do you think now putin is a person that is a military strategy but as a person who you you know what he thinks you know how the power structure in russia thinks i'll ask a joint question is uh about
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nuclear things what is the idea with the zaparuja i mean what are they doing with this nuclear power plant uh what's the strategy does it just cause fear and also do you think that putin is the type that would use something like nuclear weapons in ukraine if he feels that he's
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losing look i think that these the all discussions about nukes i think is very hypothetical um and also i think there's the putin never dealt you know with with the
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situations like this one with this kind of crisis i was always very lucky that he could escape uh um because the the opposite of his his opponents uh never press hard they always you know kept
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folding cards instead of calling his blood i think now we were at a point in history where even the very mediocre leadership of the free world realized that
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we had no other choice but to call putin's bluff and i think he also feels that it's it's not going to work as as it did before so that's why uh we
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we we're not hearing these days the same you know uh bold uh um threats just you know just it's very just like brazen threats from from from putin's generals and from putin's
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uh um entourage yeah we will do this we will you know just use whatever weapons we have yeah it seems they are just you know they are trying to sort of um
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find kind of a middle ground so this is not to drop threats altogether but not to provoke nato because they understand if if they if they if they've gone too far and nato is dragged in that's that's
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disastrous i think many russian generals now they realize the war basically the war is lost because if all the objectives strategic objectives that putin putin um declared or or
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hasn't hasn't declared but had in mind they all just you know it's all of them failed so um yeah and continuing the war is the only way for putin to
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stay in power and to to um um um create like this is this it's extra chaos in the free world hoping that maybe winter
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could could offer him new opportunities i think it's again it's it's it's a desperate attempt to protract the agony it's and i would be very you know cynical and even laughing at it
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but it's still killing people that's that's that's that's why you know we should understand that you know putin's desperate attempts to stay afloat uh will put thousands and thousands of people both
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on the front line and innocent civilians into graves um uh in in in in the uh months to come before ukraine can eventually liberate her country
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you just had your forum uh for free russia there a few days ago congress congresswoman sorry sorry congress yes that's congress um and so how was that and and how how do you see the opposition today and what do you see
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coming coming ahead uh look uh it's uh it was a big success uh we had more than 500 participants which was the biggest event we ever organized in vilnius and um
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we had a very uh impressive um uh list of the foreign participants the foreign guests um high-level um uh uh executives uh and and uh mps
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uh and it's some you know it just demonstrated that uh uh russian um action committee the the group that i founded uh together with michael koderkovsky um has
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is now seen as the as the main voice for russian opposition in exile yeah i run personally around an important panel uh the war in ukraine the last world russian empire question mark and it included um
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um what i call this the five five countries coalition of willing uh stolen a lot with lithuania poland and great britain so and um it's can impressive list president elvis from
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estonia minister publix from latvia deputy ministers foreign the menace of lithuania and jablonski of poland and tom tagging hud who at the time was the um
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of the conference was still mp the chair of the foreign affairs committee of the british parliament and now just a couple of days ago he was appointed minister of security in in least trust government so that's this gives an idea that this is
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this how how the congress was viewed by by people from the countries that are just that doing the utmost to help ukraine we had a great panel on sanctions that included uh such experts as michael
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mcfaul and bill browder and um and i think again as this we stated our position very clearly so we um you know we believe that uh uh the the the
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uh the free world must do absolutely everything to help ukraine win there's no other solution there's no other outcome of this war uh only ukraine an unconditional victory uh and putin's unconditional defeat
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and and the only chance to liberate russian putin's fascism is to raise ukrainian flag and celestophel so that's that's what we believe is a top priority for anyone who wants to see our planet safe from from putin's existential
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threat of destruction and and we also believe that uh europe should demonstrate its resolve by banning russian tourism altogether we support a full ban on tourist visas and
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at the same time we argue that those russians would like to leave putin's uh putin's um what we call north korea and to become you know just citizens of uh uh or members of virtual
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south korea uh they should be given this opportunity providing they sign a simple declaration stating that the worst criminal putin's regime is illegitimate and um ukraine is a whole it's this is full recognition of ukrainian
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sovereignty and territorial integrity so that's the that's the combined approach that we we advocate and we hope that it will you know we will have um an understanding
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of friendly governments and we're already talking to to a number of them number of these governments to um uh to find the best way to to work um
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uh on on behalf of these tens most like a hundred thousand russians that would like to become this uh these the members of our virtual virtual state uh again cutting all the ties which business
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russia we don't believe that uh the tourism should be accepted at the time of the war you cannot go back and forth with the front line sure that makes sense to me so listen i got three questions from people that sent questions in for this interview uh
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and so i'll start with this is what is what do you make of the national republican army uh what is it and what's your feelings about that it's a fake that's fake very good absolutely and who's behind it or what is behind it i
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don't know but you know i'm not an expert on fakes you know so we have been wasting so much time on fake news in america it's the yeah it's uh it's ilya panamarov you know uh was just you know i used this uh opportunity to to to
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advertise his own agenda but uh i think it's now it's all falling apart because people realize that it's uh it's uh it's just yeah it is no substance unfortunately it is this um as many
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fakes you know it led to two dramatic um uh consequences for some people inside russia who have been arrested now in connection to that so at a wartime you know doing these fakes you know
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could could have little effect uh for uh people who otherwise could be saved yeah makes sense uh so let me ask you another question um next kind of totally unrelated question uh in the world of chess magnus carlson
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pulling out of the sink full cup what do you make of all this i i don't know all the details about surrounding this conflict uh uh in saint louis um because he did it
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after his game with with hans neiman um coming just short of accusing his opponent of cheating uh but while you know i i don't want to speculate since again i
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don't know all the details i think that decision is unacceptable i think that the world champion has responsibility for the for the game and showing this disrespect to to players and to the organizers which is san luis is the most
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prestigious um tournament in the world uh it's absolutely wrong and uh and the least he has to do uh is to provide an explanation you know you can't just walk away and uh and so far he's silent and
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that's that bothers me a lot that's interesting uh the one other question we had from someone was do you think that you in this putin is a threat to your own self your own security is
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the question they asked yeah probably i just you know i so thinking about it you know doesn't help very good answer well and so let me ask one last thing so typically we end with
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is there anything if you could voice or say one thing to the people of ukraine because this will be translated to ukrainian as well uh what would you like to say to the ukrainian people look i think the heroism is just you know is
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so refreshing at the time of the cynicism and again i wish them strengths and i know i believe that we all owe them big uh i'm not sure we can ever compensate
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them for the sacrifices they made not only for their own country but for the freedom around the world and as a russian citizen though with the probably you know longest record of fighting putin i still
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feel that you know i'm i'm responsible for for for the sufferings now that um they're experiencing uh uh uh by um caused by by putin's criminal regime
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and again we will we will we probably will never be able to repay them for for for their sacrifices and heroism and the spirit and again it's um it's it's a country that
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uh is now spiritual leader of free world and um it's uh it reminded all of us that we had we had ideas and values worth fighting for and even dying for fantastic thank you gary that's perfect
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so i appreciate your time and i i guess we'll be we'll be in touch
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