MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. The corruption charges brought by Ukrainian authorities against former Prime Minister and Batkovshchina party leader Yulia Timoshenko are driven by Vladimir Zelensky’s desire to "eliminate" his political rivals, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said on his Max channel.
He compared the political struggle in Kiev to pigs fighting "for the right to eat from the trough filled with slop." Medvedev said Zelensky has most likely "initiated a full-scale purge of his potential rivals" by appointing Kirill Budanov, a "figure with a terrorist past" (listed as a terrorist and extremist in Russia), as head of his office and by initiating criminal proceedings against the "lady with the braid," Timoshenko, on orders from Washington.
"Apparently, the lady decided that it was time to get back in the game, since the elections are still quite possible," the Security Council deputy chairman said.
Medvedev added that Zelensky had failed to take into account "basic history lessons": "Anyone playing without major trump cards against this lady should remember that such games usually lead either to a bloody Maidan or to the perpetrator’s ignominious escape from the country."
Timoshenko is suspected of bribing members of the Verkhovna Rada to expand her faction and consolidate her political influence.