Who are the Russian-speaking democratic leftists?

The Russian-speaking Democratic Left (RdL) is an association of Russian speaking socialists within and around the Die Linke party. 

Our goals:

• To involve Russian-speaking residents of Germany in left-wing politics. Countering right-wing populist propaganda and the influence of Putinism on the Russian-speaking audience. 
• Supporting the Ukrainian and other peoples in their struggle against Russian imperialism, as well as the colonisation and migrant-phobic policies within the Russian Federation. This struggle is inseparable from the global anti-imperialist and anti-colonial struggle. 
• Assistance to Russians and citizens of other countries who are resisting the Putin regime and/or seeking asylum from it in Germany: first and foremost, those who are persecuted, political prisoners, deserters and refugees. 
• Assistance in realising the rights, freedoms and class interests of Russian-speaking workers and refugees in Germany.
• Establishing cooperation between German and Russian-speaking leftists to develop and implement a truly internationalist policy, including on issues of security, support for Ukraine, refugees and human rights in Germany and the post-Soviet space. 

Our principles:

• RdL criticises the campism characteristic of a certain part of the international left-wing movement. This way of thinking about international relations leads to direct or indirect justification of expansionism and authoritarianism in "non-Western" countries such as Russia, China, Iran, etc.; and often to a refusal to support liberation movements on the basis of their supposed pro-Western geopolitical orientation. Consistent anti-imperialism consists of empathy and solidarity with the oppressed the world — the only "camp" to which we as leftists are obliged to belong. 
• We stand for the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, its right to resist Russian aggression, for a just world based on international law. Solidarity with the Ukrainian people necessarily implies maintaining the defence capability of the Ukrainian army by Ukraine's allies, including through military supplies. 
• The Russian ruling class must pay for this criminal war. The foreign assets of the Russian Federation, Russian oligarchs, officials, propagandists, etc. should be confiscated in favour of Ukraine. At the same time, we oppose discrimination against Russians on the basis of nationality or citizenship. 
• We are in favour of dismantling Putin's regime and the authoritarian regimes dependent on it from below; we are in favour of the consistent democratisation of the political, economic and national-territorial structure Russian society; and the repeal of all repressive laws. 
• The policy of the Federal Republic and other EU countries should not be aimed at striking a deal with Putin's regime, but at strengthening their own energy independence, as well as resilience in the face of hybrid threats: disinformation, sabotage, armed provocations, corruption, the "fifth column" in the form of the far right, etc. At the same time, we must not allow the strengthening of Europe's security to turn into militarisation or become a pretext for attacking democracy and social rights. 
• Russian-speaking democratic leftists stand for democratic socialism in its broadest sense; for overcoming capitalism and patriarchy, and for the creation of a new, free and egalitarian society.