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Kremlin has no issue with media calling Zelensky president: 'call him as you see fit'

"Anyway, this is something that the judicial system in Ukraine itself largely needs to discuss," Dmitry Peskov said

MOSCOW, May 29. /TASS/. The media is free to call Vladimir Zelensky Ukrainian president if it wants, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"A discussion is underway now. <…> And opinions differ. Anyway, this is something that the judicial system in Ukraine itself largely needs to discuss," Peskov said, when asked to comment on how the Kremlin views the media still calling Zelensky president even though his term has officially expired.

"You are a journalist. And you can call [him] as you see fit. Nobody restricts you here," the Russian presidential spokesman told the reporter who asked that question.

Ukraine is now discussing the issue of the legitimacy of the authorities in the absence of parliamentary and presidential elections. Verkhovna Rada MP Alexander Dubinsky said that Zelensky’s powers expired on the night of May 20 according to the constitution, and there was no legitimate way to extend them. The country’s former ambassador to the UK, Vadim Pristayko, admitted that Kiev’s Western partners were also concerned about the end of Zelensky’s presidential term.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the issue of Zelensky’s legitimacy should be resolved in Ukraine by its political and legal systems. Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with TASS that Zelensky was violating his country’s laws in an attempt to hold on to power after his term expired.

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