Leonid Volkov, a top aide to jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, spoke to FRANCE 24 from the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on Tuesday. He expressed concern about the safety of his boss, who was recently sentenced to nine more years in prison, saying that the world “should keep an eye on him”.
Volkov went on to say that when Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to go to war in Ukraine he actually "shortened his years in power" – and since Navalny is Putin’s "personal prisoner”, he also “shortened Nalvany’s prison term”.
Volkov also reacted to the Kremlin's seeming change of military strategy in Ukraine after Russia said it would "drastically" reduce military operations in Kyiv and Tchernihiv.
According to Volkov, Putin was planning a "blitzkrieg" against Kyiv and now must admit he failed. But the admission comes "too late": despite Putin's "very strong and capable propaganda", Volkov suspects this failure will be hard to explain to the Russian people.
A "shift is happening" in Russian society, Volkov said. And soon, "they are going to realise something went wrong".
Click on the video player above to watch the full interview.
