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Expert believes Zelensky’s move to oust Danilov power play amid legitimacy concerns

Spiridon Kilinkarov said he did not believe that this resignation was connected to the insulting remark towards the Chinese side

MOSCOW, March 27. /TASS/. Ukrainian National Defense and Security Council Secretary Alexey Danilov’s dismissal is a bid by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to consolidate power amid concerns about his legitimacy, says Spiridon Kilinkarov, former Verkhovna Rada Deputy, expert of the "The Other Ukraine" movement.

On Tuesday, Zelensky dismissed Danilov, appointing Foreign Intelligence Service head Alexander Litvinenko in his stead. Danilov is notorious for his scandalous statements. In particular, several days ago, he mispronounced the name of the Chinese Special Representative on Eurasian Affairs Li Hui in an insulting way.

"I do not believe that this resignation is connected to the insulting remark towards the Chinese side. I believe it is rather connected with Zelensky’s desire to strengthen his power as much as possible before May 21, when his legitimacy comes into question. And he has big problems with the parliament. He does not have a sustainable majority of votes, and, I believe, executive offices will be up for sale to solve one task: to strengthen or establish a sustainable majority in the parliament. I cannot rule out that the question of reformatting the government may be raised in the near future," Kilinkarov told TASS.

Ukraine is now actively discussing the issue of the legitimacy of the current authorities, as parliamentary and presidential elections cannot be held during martial law. On February 25, Verkhovna Rada Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said that the powers of the current president would expire only after the newly elected head of state took office, so Zelensky "will continue to perform his duties."

Ukraine's presidential election was supposed to be held in March. A number of political analysts in Ukraine and the West believe that Zelensky is not consenting to holding the election for fear of losing power. On February 27, the Dzerkalo Tyzhnya weekly quoted sources in Zelensky's administration as saying that the president's office had drafted a message to the Constitutional Court regarding the legitimacy of Zelensky's stay in office after 20 May.

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