Nearly 200 people yesterday protested outside the Russian representative office in downtown Taipei, urging the international community to stand with Ukraine and step up efforts to force Russia to halt its invasion of the country.
Protesters also demonstrated on Friday outside the office, called the Representative Office in Taipei for the Moscow-Taipei Coordination Commission on Economic and Cultural Cooperation.
Russian artist Evgeny Bondarenko displayed drawings of a person resembling a cross between Adolf Hitler and Russian President Vladimir Putin and called for the war to stop.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“I feel violated, because I am Russian, I have [a] Russian passport, I am born in Russia with Russian family and Russian friends, but I also have a lot of friends in Ukraine, and I respect and love Ukrainian people,” Bondarenko said.
Russia began its attack on Ukraine without obtaining the permission of the Russian people under the assumption that they agreed, he said.
“I say sorry, but you cannot do it like this and just say Russian people agree with this war. You can’t,” he said.
He said he left Russia because of its policies and traveled the world before coming to Taiwan about five years ago.
“My first time in Taiwan, I started to realize what is freedom,” said Bondarenko, who is married to a Taiwanese woman.
Ukrainian Alex Khomenko, one of the organizers of the rally, said he hoped the Russian military would not conquer Ukraine, adding that he would continue to support his country and keep urging Western countries to back Ukraine.
“I think they are still continuing the attacks, so that is the only thing I will be looking at right now,” Khomenko said.
Khomenko added that there were some parallels between the situation in Ukraine and tensions across the Taiwan Strait, but they were not exactly the same.
However, a Taiwanese at the rally surnamed Chang (張) said the situations are similar.
She felt that some Taiwanese had forgotten their history, so she attended the rally to let Taiwanese know that China could copy Russia’s actions.
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