GENEVA, February 6. /TASS/. Vladimir Zelensky is the primary obstacle on US President Donald Trump’s way to settling the Ukrainian crisis, Switzerland’s Die Weltwoche journal wrote.
According to the journal, although certain progress has been made towards achieving a negotiated solution to the Ukrainian conflict, it is not as fast as Trump expected.
"But the main question is who is the biggest obstacle [to the deal]? Apparently, it is Vladimir Zelensky," the journal wrote.
It outlined a list of arguments against Zelensky as a partner in the dialogue. For example, not only did he issue a legislative ban on negotiations with Russia, but also stopped being a legitimate representative of Ukraine when his term expired last May. And, ultimately, Zelensky’s personal animosity towards the Russian leader also plays a major role here, Die Weltwoche added.
"The United States is asking why elections cannot be held. But the popular vote would have proven that he [Zelensky] is no longer entitled to speak on behalf of his nation. The Ukrainians don’t want him anymore, they don’t want to see him any longer," the article says. "That is why there is certain logic in Russian intelligence reports about the West’s plans to oust Zelensky from power."
The journal says that although this kind of decision would be unfair to Zelensky, the Ukrainian people deserve an end to their suffering.
Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said in a statement, obtained by TASS on February 3, that NATO countries are plotting to unleash a major smear campaign against Vladimir Zelensky with the goal of removing him from power, "ideally by way of a pseudo-democratic election."
According to the SVR, the plan is to "make public information that the ‘president’ and his inner circle have embezzled more than $1.5 billion from funds meant to buy munitions." Additionally, the plan reportedly includes "exposing a scheme in which payments meant for 130,000 fallen Ukrainian soldiers—who remain officially listed as active-duty personnel—have been funneled abroad by Zelensky and his associates," the SVR said. The West also plans to pull the curtain down on repeated instances of the ‘Ukrainian supreme commander-in-chief’s’ involvement in selling large quantities of Western-donated weapons and vehicles to various armed groups in African countries.
However, the NATO leadership wants to preserve Ukraine as an anti-Russian stronghold at all costs, the Russian intelligence service continued, adding that the aim is to 'freeze' the conflict by guiding the warring parties toward dialogue on the 'beginning of its settlement. "Washington and Brussels seem to be in agreement that the biggest obstacle to this is Zelensky, who, behind closed doors, is being called ‘dead weight’ in the West," the SVR explained.