In an exclusive interview with ‘Euronews’, Yashin states that “Putin’s power is based on propaganda, manipulation and, of course, the use of force.”
Russian opposition activist Ilya Yashin He was released on August 1 after two and a half years in a Russian prison as part of a historic prisoner exchange. He spoke to ‘Euronews’ in Berlin about the current situation in your country and his time behind bars.
“It is very important to stay in a good emotional and physical state, otherwise you will simply collapse. Furthermore, two years is not a critical period. It is said that irreversible changes They occur after three years behind bars. After that, people develop serious health problems: their teeth fall out, their hair falls out,” says Yashin.
The opponent managed to maintain his YouTube channel while in prison, something very unusual for Russian activists who end up detained. “I could communicate with others by exchanging letters. And sometimes the censors let some things through“, explains ‘Euronews’.
“Of course, there were times when my texts were deleted or something was crossed out. But still, when there are a large number of letters, and I had a large number of letters, it is more difficult,” he says and assures that he received more than 30,000 letters and postcards in the two and a half years he was in prison.
“Often things leaked. That’s how I was able to convey certain information in my letters. Information of public importance that I wanted to post on my social media or I asked my team to make a video of it on YouTube,” he adds.
How many Russians really support Putin?
Last week, a week after his release, Yashin met with his followers in the German capital to continue his campaign against the invasion of Ukraine. “The Russian opposition should get involved in anti-war education” he said, adding: “If you save Ukraine, you will help a free Russia.”
In his interview with ‘Euronews’, the opponent assures that He does not believe “that there are so many people who ideologically support Putin and that she is willing to follow him unconditionally.” He adds that “there are as many supporters of Putin as there are opponents.”
“Russian society is largely made up of people who adopt a waiting attitude“, he states. “The economic and social situation of Russian society if it is deteriorating. And people, it seems to me, make more and more comparisons. They associate them with Putin’s politics. By the way, Prigozhin’s case last summer was a real rebelliondespite Putin’s hysterical reaction. Society reacted quite indifferently. There were no pro-Putin demonstrations,” he concludes.
