Three Russian opposition leaders plan to hold an antiwar demonstration – a march – in Berlin on Sunday in protest of Russia’s war on Ukraine, and their words have reached as far as Guam, where a group of asylum seekers from Russia plan to hold a peaceful gathering at 4 p.m. that day at the ITC building intersection.
Olga Sigorva is an organizer for the local demonstration.
“We want to support the initiative of Yulia Navalnaya, who called the whole world to support the march in Berlin, the peace march,” Sigorva told The Guam Daily Post through a translator, Svetlana Rasmussen.
Navalnaya is the widow of the late Alexei Navalny, a prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Navalny died in February at the age of 47 while imprisoned in a remote Arctic penal colony. Russian authorities attributed his death to a combination of diseases, a finding that Navalnaya has rejected. The Insider, an online publication specializing in investigative journalism, reported in September that Navalny appeared to have been poisoned.
Joining Navalnaya in calling for the demonstration on Sunday are Ilya Yashin and Vladimir Kara-Murza, two of 26 individuals released during a historic prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Russia, which took place on Aug. 1 in Ankara, Turkey.
The demonstration won’t be about just ending the war in Ukraine, it’s also to demand Putin’s resignation. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty quoted Yashin when the demonstration was announced near the end of October. Yashin said the march will demand the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine while holding Putin accountable as a war criminal, as well as demand the release of all political prisoners, according to RFE/RL.
Sigorva and Val K., a fellow asylum seeker supporting Sigorva in organizing the event, and who wanted to be called only by that name, explained the purpose of the demonstration further, telling the Post that the main message is to stop the war in Ukraine and call Putin a military criminal, while also calling for the restitution of Ukrainian territory back to its state in 1991.
Guam has been host to many Russian asylum seekers. They come from different walks of life, and each carries separate reasons for seeking asylum.
Sigorva has been on Guam since 2019. She said she is an economist by profession with a specialization in financial matters.
“In Russia, I was in federal service. … And I struggled for human rights in Russia. I was an activist struggling for voting rights, … and Yulia Navalnaya’s late husband, Alexei Navalny, was also a voting rights activist, a human rights activist in Russia and he was killed in prison this year,” Sigorva said through Rasmussen.
“His fund, the anticorruption fund, they were fighting corruption, which is clear by their name. … I’m a supporter of this fund … and I participated in all the activism of this fund. And so, I’m calling to meet to support Yulia Navalnaya as a part of the anticorruption fund action,” Sigorva added.
Val K. said there is a small but steady group of people who regularly gather and they are hoping more people will come to the event on Sunday.
“We need to stop the war in Ukraine immediately. All the world needs to help Ukraine. If we can’t stop Putin in any other way, the whole world needs to help Ukraine, if people care about human rights … and fulfilling agreements between countries. The law should apply to everyone equally. Please come with any slogans in support of Ukraine. Let us know if you have a special position or opinion about Ukraine,” Val K. said through Rasmussen.