“everyone who supports the dictator” is responsible

Former deputy of the Perm City Duma from the “United Russia” faction, Sergey Zakharov, who left for Germany due to anti-war views, explains the support of his fellow deputies for the war by fear and aggressive propaganda of Russian television.

Earlier, in one of his anti-war posts, Zakharov wrote: “Dictators do not kill personally. The hands of the executors are covered in blood. Therefore, everyone who supports the dictatorial regime is no less responsible than the dictator himself.”

According to the 55-year-old former deputy, the anti-war position for him is “not an instant solution.” “We grew up with the slogan: “Peace is peace, war is war!”, every hour we went to demonstrations with placards “Peace, work, May!”, and I am not going to change my beliefs at someone’s whim. Therefore, I am not ashamed look in the mirror in the morning. I absolutely do not agree with today’s state policy and do not intend to participate in it,” he wrote in a statement on April 10 about the voluntary surrender of his parliamentary powers.

On April 25, the Perm city council unanimously approved the deputy’s resignation, and also excluded him from the city coordination council for the disabled and the commission to restore the rights of rehabilitated victims of political repression.

Sergey Zakharov is a professional pilot. He was the commander of the Tu-134A airliner. He entered politics in 2005: at first in the ranks of the Union of Right Forces party. Zakharov was first elected to the Perma city council in 2013. Having received a deputy’s mandate, he joined the “United Russia” faction, but remained non-partisan.

After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Zakharov posted his own picture on Instagram: a pigeon with an olive branch in its beak. After that, according to him, he got into the “black lists”.

However, Zakharov continued to publish posts criticizing hostilities, murders, and repressions. In particular, in one of them, the Perm deputy wrote: “He could have become a great president of a great state, but he will remain in history a petty dictator of a poor country.”

Last May, Deputy Zakharov went to Germany. According to Zakharov, he hesitated to refuse the deputy’s mandate because, firstly, he still hoped to return to Russia, and secondly, the hotel would complete the projects for the improvement of the city’s microdistricts, which he was engaged in, on time. After leaving, he oversaw projects remotely.