Historian, former Soviet dissident, and current political prisoner Aleksandr Skobov writes from prison about the necessity of armed resistance against the Russian regime.

from prison letters, August 2026

Armed resistance against Putin’s tyranny and its aggression is vital.

I would like to briefly reiterate what I have constantly said and written before and after my arrest.

Putin’s regime is a post-industrial reincarnation of Hitler’s Nazism. It is equally dangerous to civilization and requires the same response from it. It has trampled on rights and freedoms in Russia and, by unleashing a bloody, predatory war against Ukraine, has placed itself outside the law—both divine and human.

The world is confronted with infinitely loathsome, cynical, ruthless, and cruel killers, obsessed with a manic desire to overthrow the legal and moral barriers to violence and cruelty that civilization has built. And all this for the boundless expansion of their own power, to confirm their omnipotence. There is no compromise with them, no way to bribe them with concessions.

Attempts at “civilized dialogue” with them are not only ethically shameful but also pragmatically futile. Their relentless ill will can only be broken by the force of arms. Armed resistance against Putin’s tyranny and its aggression is not only entirely justified but also vitally necessary for the defense of civilization.

If the aggressor is allowed to legitimize annexations, the international order that has existed since 1945 will completely collapse. No one will be safe.

I once again call on European countries to use their armed forces to stop the aggressor. At this moment, Putin has nothing to threaten Europe with—except nuclear weapons. But the Kremlin’s Hitler will only use them if he is convinced that there will be no response.

The best way to deter him from this is to engage him in the fight right now.

Aleksandr Skobov, member of the council of the Free Russia Forum