All-Russian Officers' Assembly calls on Putin to "renounce the criminal policy of provoking war" and resign

Chairman of the All-Russian Officers' Assembly, Col. Gen. Ret. Leonid Ivashov has published an appeal to Vladimir Putin and the Russians, in which he opposed the war with Ukraine. The letter was posted on the website of the movement, - the Russian Dozhd TV channel reports.

The appeal says that war is a "great tragedy" and a "serious crime". Ivashov notes that earlier, Russia and the USSR participated in "forced" wars, "as a rule, when there was no other way out".

"What threatens the existence of Russia itself today, and are there such threats? It can be argued that there is indeed a threat – the country is on the verge of completing its history. All vital areas, including demography, are steadily degrading, and the rate of population extinction is breaking world records", - the appeal says, and the main threat to Russia is "systemic degradation" caused by the model of the state and power.

Ivashov notes that external threats, although they exist, are not critical: "In general, strategic stability is maintained, nuclear weapons are under reliable control, NATO forces are not building up and are showing no threatening activity".