Lithuanian FM responds to Russian opposition leader's proposal to sanction only "Putin regime"

Landsbergis posted his detailed comment on Sunday, August 4, 20224, in a thread on X.

"I would like to address the recurring question of those ‘ordinary Russians’ who ‘shouldn’t be sanctioned’. I hear talk of ordinary Russians’ innocence, but then I see ordinary Russians murdering ordinary Ukrainians. I see ordinary Russian mothers saying goodbye to their ordinary Russian sons and wishing them good luck with their ordinary Russian war crimes.I see ordinary Russians celebrating murder. I see ordinary Russian parents dressing up their ordinary Russian children in military uniforms and painting the letter Z on a cardboard tank costume. I see ordinary Russians coming together to make a huge Z formation in the town square," the Lithuanian Foreign Minister emphasized.

According to him, Russian society is sick and can only be cured after a military defeat from Ukraine. And this requires international financial and economic sanctions that "slow down Russia’s total war machine," Landsbergis added.

"Ordinary Russia is sick. Healing will be a long and gruelling process which can only start when Russia, not just Putin, is defeated. Without a defeat in Ukraine, Russia will just keep spreading," the minister concluded in a tweet.

Background

On Friday, August 2, Kara-Murza, who was released during a prisoner exchange between Russia and the West, complained about Western sanctions against Russia:

"I see the main focus of my activities in the international sphere as reminding people in democratic countries that Russia and Putin are not the same thing. Sanctions should be aimed at criminals and the Putin regime, not at citizens of the Russian Federation on the basis of citizenship."