It is more than four years since Russia launched its offensive in Ukraine, creating hundreds of thousands of victims on both sides, though, given the lack of transparency from the Kremlin, it is difficult to arrive at precise figures. It is equally difficult to know when the conflict will finally end with a formal treaty and whether it will terminate by diplomatic means or with the collapse of one of the parties. However, after more than 25 years of authoritarianism, in which opponents and citizens have been effectively muzzled, Vladimir Putin’s regime will end at some point or other. That is the starting point for this article, which argues for anticipating that moment and acting to equip the Russian people to prepare for the post-Putin era from the very beginning of the transition.
The Russian authors, who are active within ‘Memorial’, the Russian human rights association (winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, 2022), and are specialists in transitional justice, present their recommendations to that effect in this article. Drawing lessons from the mistakes of the transition that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union—the very limited degree of introspection, the insufficient purging of institutions, the derisory efforts to rehabilitate and compensate the regime’s victims etc.—they argue for setting up a comprehensive machinery to determine responsibility for state crimes committed by the Putin regime, to lay the foundations for gaining speedy and effective justice for persecuted citizens, and to restore confidence in the judiciary and in law enforcement. They set out in concrete terms how to go about making a clean sweep and initiating a transition that would remove those guilty of systemic abuses from positions of power, enabling a healthy, democratic political order to be created. Lastly, they emphasize Europe’s own interest in lending support to this process both now and in the future.
This article has been translated in English and you can download its translation.
