Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy no longer has legitimacy following the expiry of his five-year term.
Putin also said that this would raise a legal obstacle if Russia and Ukraine were to hold peace talks.
BYPASS THE CENSORS
Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox.
You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use
He emphasized that Russia remains ready to resume peace negotiations with Ukraine but NOT with an illegitimate President.
Putin made his comments during a press conference in Minsk on Friday after talks with the Belarusian President.
IFP news reported:: President Zelensky’s legitimacy has expired, and Moscow will proceed from this fact, Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated.
‘Of course, we are aware that the legitimacy of the current head of state [of Ukraine] has ended’, Putin said at a press conference in Minsk on Friday after talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Putin recommended anyone looking for answers regarding Zelensky’s legal status to look to the Ukrainian Constitution – which does not authorize the artificial extension of his presidential term under the pretext of martial law.”
Lukashenko echoed Putin’s assessment, stating that “there is no legal integrity, and cannot be any legal integrity” on this question.
“All the same, I believe that neither the current president nor the future one can resolve the big issues facing the state of Ukraine and the people of Ukraine. These issues will not be resolved by presidents. You know who will decide them. A lot has already been decided overseas, and what hasn’t, will be decided later,” Lukashenko added.
The Belarusian president added that there were plenty of people in Ukraine, both in the military and among civilians, who would like to lead the country, and “in a new way, [either] toward war or against war”.
A defiant Zelensky has rejected questions on his legitimacy from his critics in Ukraine, and from Kiev’s Western ‘partners’.
“My five-year term is not over yet. It is continuing due to martial law,” Zelensky told Reuters on Tuesday.
