Yabloko party member and Novaya Gazeta call for investigation into Russian parliamentarian who said those who do not support Putin should be ‘annihilated’

After Russian State Duma Deputy Andrey Gurulev’s remarks that those Russians who do not support Putin should be “if not isolated, then at least annihilated,” both Yabloko party member Boris Vishnevsky and independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta called for his investigation.

Gurulev made the statement on an October 15 episode of the talk show “Evening with Vladimir Solovyov.” He said that 80% of the Russian population supports Putin, but the rest was “rot.”

Vishnevsky said that Gurulev’s comments amount to publicly calling for killing people out of political hatred and go against the Russian Constitution. “The ultimate goal of such statements by Mr. Gurulev may be, I believe, to incite mass repression in the Russian Federation and civil war,” he added in his petition to Russia’s Prosecutor General.

Novaya Gazeta also started a petition for Gurulev to be investigated, saying that he is “calling for the murder (‘annihilation’) of approximately 29 million Russians,” figures comparable to Russian losses in WWII.

Later, Gurulev said he was only referring to those who call for “immediately stopping the special military operation.” “Is this the opposition, or [our] enemies? They’re probably enemies, aren’t they? And if they are enemies, they should be treated as enemies. […] What should we do with them? [Just] watch, or destroy them?”