PACE Declares Putin a Dictator

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has declared Putin to be a dictator: a war criminal ruling a terrorist state.

On 13 October, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recognised Putin as a dictator. It also called on all countries to honour the ICC decision regarding Putin's arrest. PACE supported the creation of a special international criminal tribunal to investigate war crimes committed by the Russian army in Ukraine since 2014 and to bring to justice all Russian war criminals.

The multiple war crimes committed by the Russians since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine have recreated the darkest moments of mediaeval reality. Destruction of populated areas, murder and torture, mass rape of women, forced deportation and expulsion of civilians from their homes - all this is clear evidence of the terrorist nature of Putin's Russia. Calls for negotiations with the Kremlin are naive. Putin is the worst war criminal of our time and has no intention of ending this war. He will use any pause to accumulate a military reserve and then resume hostilities, which will resume 2-4 years after the so-called peace talks. But in such a case, Russia's renewed war will have a severe effect on Europe.

Modern Western weapons played a decisive role in defeating the Russian occupation forces, which were forced to retreat in many directions. The PACE decision has once again confirmed Western support for Ukraine. Humanity is now at a turning point; peace and stability in the Europe of the future depends on how decisive Ukraine's victory over Russia will be. Terrorists are not to be negotiated with, nor are they to be taken at their word: they must be destroyed. The increased supplies of Western weapons - long-range missiles, attack drones, shells, fighter jets - are the only possible way to stop Russian terror.