Dmitrii Kovalev (Left for Peace without Annexations, Russia): ‘True peace requires going back to Ukraine’s original borders’

The Left for Peace without Annexations is a coalition of several organisations from different backgrounds (socialist, Trotskyist, Maoist, etc). I am a member of the Communist Tendency, the Russian section of the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency, which is part of this coalition. 

The coalition has activists within Russia, where they agitate for defeatism, while our supporters in exile provide support. We can count on support from a faction in the German party Die Linke (The Left). However, most of the European left remains eurocentric and even chauvinistic.

We stand for revolutionary defeatism: we want Russia to lose this war. In our opinion, true peace can only be achieved by going back to Ukraine’s original borders, without any annexations. If there is a need to modify these borders, then only the Ukrainian people can decide that. 

We also stand for unconditional support for Ukraine. The resources of Ukraine belong to the Ukrainian people, not to Russian President Vladimir Putin nor to European imperialists and neither to US President Donald Trump.  

Questions such as a possible ceasefire can only be decided by the Ukrainian people. We consider membership in NATO and EU as imperialist actions that go against the independence of Ukrainian people and therefore politically oppose this. But, again, any such membership is the sole decision of the Ukrainian people. 

We believe military equipment should be delivered to Ukraine, without this needing a build-up of Europe’s militaries. Sanctions on Russia should serve Ukrainian interests, not European profits. To ensure this, sanctions should come from workers organisations, such as trade unions, not imperialist governments.

We stand for the destruction of the present Russian Federation. We recognise that most Russian citizens have a “centrist” opinion on the war: they are not exactly in favour, yet they do not express their opposition.

We need to understand that the Putin regime has destroyed all left-wing organisations and trade unions within Russia. It is only now — after three years of war — that we can see the beginnings of new organisations that seek to swim “against the current”. 

Despite this, there are some organised people active on Russian soil. With them we strive to support political prisoners, while spreading information (which remains very difficult). 

In exile, our main problem is the sectarian, eurocentric and chauvinistic left, which hinders our efforts at connecting with broader layers of the population. Nevertheless, we try to keep connecting, listening to Ukrainian people, and finding an audience in trade unions, among other actions.

This is an edited version of the speech Kovalev gave at the “Solidarity with Ukraine” Conference in Brussels on March 26-27.