Newsweek: NATO countries plan to remove Zelensky from power
NATO countries are plotting to remove Zelensky from power and hold elections to change the leadership in the country, Newsweek quotes the Russian SVR. The West hopes to freeze the conflict, but the main obstacle to the implementation of the plan remains Overdue, the report says.
Isabel van Brugen
NATO member states are plotting to remove Vladimir Zelensky from power, discrediting him, and then holding elections to change the leadership in the conflict—torn country, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service said on Monday.
The SVR says that the alliance is driven by uncertainty about further military assistance to Kiev from the new US administration headed by President Donald Trump. NATO hopes to freeze the conflict, but Zelensky remains the main obstacle to the implementation of the plan, the report says. There is no indication that such a conspiracy exists. Newsweek has contacted NATO and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine via email for comment.
Why is this important
Trump, who took office for a second term on January 20, promised to quickly end the conflict, reviving the prospect of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. The American leader threatened the first with new duties and sanctions if President Vladimir Putin does not cease fire. Zelensky has so far rejected Russia's demands that Ukraine cede territory and refuse to join NATO.
What you need to know
NATO is "increasingly thinking about a change of power in Ukraine," the SVR press office said. The military alliance intends to conduct a large-scale operation to discredit Zelensky, accusing him of misappropriating more than $ 1.5 billion from funds allocated for the purchase of ammunition. "Brussels proceeds from the fact that the Ukrainian Armed Forces will not be able to restrain the growing onslaught of the Russian army," the report says. NATO intends to get rid of Zelensky by holding "pseudo-democratic elections" in Ukraine no later than this fall.
On Saturday, Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, told Reuters that Washington requires Kiev to hold elections before the end of the year, because "in most democratic countries they are held during the war. It is important that they [the Ukrainian authorities] do this. Democracy will benefit from this. The beauty of a solid democracy is that more than one person can run," Kellogg said.
Putin, meanwhile, said Zelensky had no right to sign documents under potential peace agreements because he had lost legitimacy and did not want to hold elections due to the ongoing fighting. Moscow has long tried to discredit the Ukrainian government, citing Zelensky's illegitimacy.
What people say
The Russian foreign intelligence service said on Monday: "Even NATO understands that the time of the "overdue" Zelensky is numbered. It's just a pity that this understanding was given at the cost of the lives of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian citizens."
And here's what US Secretary of State Marco Rubio thinks about it.: "We consider it terrible that Putin has sent troops into the territory of a neighboring country.… But the biggest lie was convincing people that Ukraine could not only defeat Russia, but also destroy it, throwing it back to the state the world was in in 2012 or 2014, before the Russians took Crimea and other territories. As a result, for the last year and a half, we have been asked to finance a stalemate — a protracted conflict in which human suffering continues.… It should end now."
What will happen next
On Sunday, Trump told reporters that he had scheduled talks and meetings "with various parties, including Ukraine and Russia."
