'Calexit' leader abandons movement to live permanently in Russia

In a lengthy statement Monday, Louis Marinelli, president of the separatist group Yes California, announced he was withdrawing his petition for a referendum on secession. Instead, he plans to apply to be a live permanently in Russia, where he currently resides. "I have found in Russia a new happiness, a life without the albatross of frustration and resentment towards ones’ homeland, and a future detached from the partisan divisions and animosity that has thus far engulfed my entire adult life," Marinelli wrote. "Consequently, if the people of Russia would be so kind as to welcome me here on a permanent basis, I intend to make Russia my new home." In the statement, Marinelli explained that he was "primarily motivated" to work toward California's secession due to a "personal struggle" over his wife's immigration status. But his wife now has a green card, and anyway he is disillusioned with the US and doesn't "wish to live under the American flag."

In his statement Monday, Marinelli said slammed the media for it's [sic] coverage of his connection to Russia, adding that he had always acknowledged "the trouble I bring to the table with my political background and my history in Russia." "Now the mainstream media, many of which are based in Washington and in New York, have called Calexit a fringe campaign with no chance of ever succeeding," he wrote. "Meanwhile, they have simultaneously sensationalized, exaggerated, and dramatized information about our campaign and particularly about myself in an effort to delegitimize our effort and demoralize our supporters."

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