MOSCOW, December 11. /TASS/. The Western countries backing Kiev are now considering Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny, former Ukrainian Presidential Aide Alexey Arestovich, Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klichko and Ukrainian Presidential Office Head Andrey Yermak as potential candidates to replace Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in the country’s highest office, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Director Sergey Naryshkin said.
"The Foreign Intelligence Service is receiving reliable data that high-ranking officials from leading Western countries are increasingly more often discussing the need to replace incumbent Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky," the Russian intelligence chief noted in a statement published by the agency’s press service.
"Various potential successors to Zelensky in the office of the head of state are being considered. In particular, on the sidelines of the November meeting of EU foreign ministers held in Brussels, it was noted that one of Ukraine’s high-ranking military officials could serve as such [a successor], for example, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny or head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate [GUR] Kirill Budanov, as well as head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office Andrey Yermak, former Ukrainian Presidential Aide Alexey Arestovich, [or] Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klichko," Naryshkin noted.
He stressed that, in the view of some Europeans, each of the enumerated individuals would be "capable of playing the role of a 'Ukrainian Pilsudski,' creating a reliable 'cordon sanitaire' between Russia and Europe for decades." "Such a scenario involves a ceasefire between Moscow and Kiev after the Ukrainian army completely loses its offensive potential once and for all," the top intelligence official explained.
The SVR chief noted that the main reasons driving the West’s aspiration to replace the Ukrainian leader include both "Zelensky’s unfulfilled promises to conquer Russia on the battlefield" as well as "the Ukrainian president’s infinite insolence in interacting with his foreign partners" accompanied by "boundless nepotism and corruption," the scale of which "is shocking even to Western politicians who are well-versed in such things." "Yet the main thing is Zelensky’s loss of any ability to maneuver in the conflict with Russia in the interests of Washington and its allies," Naryshkin stressed.
"The West thinks that the Ukrainian leader has gone too far in building up his own image as an uncompromising, hawkish advocate for waging war against Moscow until a victorious finale. If necessary, he would not be able to become a party to negotiations with Russia in the interests of temporarily freezing the conflict and rescuing the Russophobic Kiev regime," the Russian intelligence chief added. "According to assessments by the American intelligence community, given the unfolding situation in the Ukrainian theater of military operations, the need for this (replacing Zelensky - TASS) may emerge in the near future," he concluded.