Kremlin says Russians back Vladimir Putin but warns of a ‘very thin line’ on criticism

The Russian people back President Putin, the Kremlin insisted on Tuesday, despite murmurings of discontent and criticism following Ukraine’s successful military counteroffensive in the past week.

But officials warned there was a “very, very, thin line” that would be tolerated by Moscow when it comes to criticism of the Russian leader.

“Russians support the president, and this is confirmed by the mood of the people... The people are consolidated around the decisions of the head of state,” said Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.

“As for other points of view, critical points of view, as long as they remain within the law, this is pluralism, but the line is very, very thin, one must be very careful here”, he added.

The response from the Kremlin came after outright criticism of Putin and the military leadership earlier in the week.

Some Russian officials took the brave step of publicly calling for Vladimir Putin’s resignation.

District councils in the long-serving leader’s home city of St Petersburg were among those who have urged the country to oust the 69-year-old.

As Ukraine began a successful counterattack against Russian-occupied positions in the Kharkiv region, deputies from St Petersburg’s Smolninsky District issued a statement calling for Mr Putin to be tried for treason.

Dmitry Palyuga, one of the councillors, tweeted that the motion was supported by most of the district’s deputies.

“We believe that the decision made by president Putin to start the special military operation is detrimental to the security of Russia and its citizens,” he said.

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Criticism of the Russian president has also crept up into the national state TV discourse.

In a rare show of defiance, Boris Nadezhdin, a former liberal politician, told a Gazprom-owned channel that Mr Putin had been misled into thinking Ukraine would capitulate if he invaded.

“We are now at the point where we have to understand that it’s absolutely impossible to defeat Ukraine using those resources and colonial methods with which Russia is trying to wage war,” he said.

Despite the Ukrainian successes, the Kremlin said on Tuesday there was no discussion of a nationwide mobilisation to bolster its forces.

“At the moment no, there is no discussion of this,” Kremlin spokesman Peskov said when asked if Russia would mobilise its reserves after being driven out of almost all of Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine.

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On Monday, Russian media quoted Mikhail Sheremet, a State Duma deputy from the ruling United Russia party, as saying “full mobilisation” was necessary for victory.

And on Tuesday, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov said: “Most of all, we need maximum mobilisation of our strength and resources” in order to win what he called a “war” against the United States, Europe and Nato.

On the ground on Tuesday, Ukrainian troops piled pressure on retreating Russian forces, pressing a counteroffensive that has produced major gains and a stunning blow to Moscow’s military prestige.

President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed on Tuesday that his troops had retaken roughly 6,000 square km (2,400 square miles) of territory this month.

Kyiv also claimed that in Russian-occupied regions of the Crimea and southern Ukraine, Russian proxies, intelligence officers and military commanders were evacuating, Ukraine’s defence military said.

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Ukraine’s border guard services said the army took control of Vovchansk, a town just three kilometres (two miles) from Russia seized on the first day of the war. Russia acknowledged that it has withdrawn troops from areas in the northeastern region of Kharkiv in recent days.

Reports of chaos abounded as Russian troops pulled out — as well as claims that they were surrendering en masse. The claims could not be immediately verified. Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defence, Hanna Maliar, said Kyiv is trying to persuade even more Russian soldiers to give up, launching shells filled with flyers ahead of their advance.

“Russians use you as cannon fodder. Your life doesn’t mean anything for them. You don’t need this war. Surrender to Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the flyers read.