About fifty Ukrainian citizens demonstrated today in front of the Russian embassy in Lisbon, calling on the Portuguese parliament to recognize Putin’s “Russism” as a new “totalitarian and hateful ideology.
At the protest, which brought together men, women, teenagers and children living in Portugal, a circle was set around the president of the Association of Ukrainians in Portugal, Pavlo Sadokha, who explained to those present that a letter had been sent to the Portuguese Parliament with the aim of having the Portuguese Parliament approve and recognize Putin’s so-called “Russism” as an ideology of a totalitarian and anti-humanist nature in its ideological bases and political practices.
Through the resolution of May 2 last, the elected representatives of the Ukrainian people want the international community to recognize Russian state policy as a “set of dangerous and destructive ideas aimed at undermining the international order and its principles, namely the recognition of the equality and sovereignty of all states and the primacy of human rights.”
The Ukrainian parliament’s resolution also calls on the United Nations, the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, as well as the governments and parliaments of foreign countries, to condemn “Russism” as a political ideology and practice.
At the site of the demonstration, some people displayed placards alluding to the “shame” of the Russian war and Putin’s “terrorist state,” while others displayed enlarged photographs of war crimes, with charred civilians and cars and corpses in the middle of the road or sidewalk of Ukrainian localities.
In statements to journalists, Pavlo Sadokha mentioned that on May 8th Europe celebrates the end of World War II, taking the opportunity to remember that “eight million Ukrainians died” in that war, contributing to the “world getting rid of Nazi ideology.
“Now, in the 21st century we have another ideology that threatens not only Ukraine but the whole world, which is ‘Russism,’ Putin’s totalitarian ideology.”
Pavlo Sadokha revealed that he has already sent a letter to the Parliament for it to recognize “Russism” as an “inhuman and hate ideology”, thus following the understanding and resolution of the Ukrainian parliament, at a time when we are witnessing the genocide of the Ukrainian people, the death of children, and the rape of women in Ukrainian territory.
Asked whether there is any hope for peace in the conflict, Pavlo Sadokha countered that Putin’s policy is against peace and that his regime calls this invasion a “holy war.”
After announcing, in front of the Russian Embassy, the request made to the Portuguese Parliament, the demonstrators held up a huge flag with the colors of Ukraine and paraded peacefully towards the Estefânia Club, where a pro-Russian organization is promoting a concert, and there, outside, demonstrate their displeasure for the existence of Russian propaganda in Portugal. Pavlo Sadokha assured journalists that this protest will be peaceful, serving only to express indignation.
