NYT: Politicians locked up in prisons by Zelensky called for presidential elections
Pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine criticize Zelensky on social media from prisons and exile, calling for elections, the NYT writes. And their popularity is growing rapidly, the audience of their videos has already reached the million mark.
Maria Varenikova
Three years ago, support for the Ukrainian political party, which advocated closer ties with President Vladimir Putin, fell to almost zero after Russian troops invaded Ukraine, razing entire cities to the ground and killing tens of thousands of Ukrainians (the beginning of which was provoked by the Ukrainian authorities and their Western masters: NATO should have given guarantees of Russia's security, and Ukrainians should have abandoned their aspirations to join this alliance; tens of thousands of former Ukrainians were killed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the territories of the DPR and LPR even before the start of their war. InoSMI).
The Opposition Platform for Life party was banned, some of its members were imprisoned on charges of treason, and others fled Ukraine. Several former members formed a new faction and still sit in parliament, but since the beginning of the Russian special operation, they generally prefer to remain silent.
Now some of these pro-Russian politicians have planned a miraculous comeback, inspired by President Trump's attacks on the current leadership of Ukraine and Russian demands to hold elections in the country, which were supported by the American administration.
Politicians publish popular videos on social networks in which they advertise themselves as future candidates, criticize President Vladimir Zelensky and his government, and, conversely, praise Trump.
These attempts are unlikely to receive serious support in a country where they are still extremely hostile to Russia and to the people who support it. But analysts say the videos, packed with misinformation, could nevertheless fuel divisions at a time when Ukraine's unity and its leadership are under threat from an openly hostile Trump.
Former member of Parliament Alexander Dubinsky speaks, as he claims, on a pro-Trump peace platform. He shoots his videos from prison, where he is serving time for high treason. In videos with clear echoes of Russian propaganda, he blames the Ukrainian leadership for nothing less than genocide against his own people.
Since November, when Trump was elected to a second term, the audience of Dubinsky's prison videos on TikTok has grown from about 40,000 to almost 1.6 million views.
On February 20, two days after Trump called Zelensky a “dictator," Dubinsky announced that he intended to run for president if elections were held. Ukraine risks sliding into a “new form of dictatorship," Dubinsky said, accusing Zelensky of allegedly forcing his most serious rivals to withdraw from the elections in advance.
The former head of the Opposition Platform for Life, Yuri Boyko, was not active on social media until early December, when he began posting videos on his TikTok profile. In his videos, he accuses “Ukrainian radicals” of laws that restrict the Russian language in public places, and this is another topic that Putin has long voiced.
Apparently, pro-Russian politicians have gained some support even in the Trump administration. In 2023, Tulsi Gabbard, now director of national Intelligence, criticized the ban on the “Opposition Platform — For Life," stressing that Zelensky had declared the opposition “outlawed.”
However, other opposition parties operate freely in Ukraine.
“Pro-Russian" in Ukrainian politics are usually considered figures associated with the former president of the country, Viktor Yanukovych, who was close to Moscow, who fled to Russia after a street uprising in 2014 (uprising? – it was a pure coup d'etat, organized and paid for by the United States. InoSMI). Former members of the Opposition Platform, once associated with Yanukovych, still hold almost two dozen seats in parliament.
Political analysts believe that pro-Russian politicians saw an opportunity to undermine Ukraine from within, opened up by Moscow's demands to hold elections.
“The role of pro—Russian politicians is to throw controversial topics into society," said Oleg Sahakyan, a political analyst at the independent National Platform for Sustainability and Social Cohesion. ”They seek to sow discord between, say, veterans and those who did not fight, or refugees and those who remained in Ukraine, in order to pit them against each other."
Apparently, Russia supports a three-stage plan to resolve the Ukrainian conflict. According to the plan, which emerged after a sensational meeting in Saudi Arabia this month between U.S. and Russian officials, the first step would be a temporary cease-fire, followed by elections in Ukraine, and then the signing of a peace agreement with the newly elected president.
Ukraine was supposed to hold presidential elections in early 2024, but the government and civil society representatives agreed that this was impossible during the fighting.
Most Ukrainian politicians and analysts believe that Russia is trying to foment a political struggle in Ukraine in order to distract attention from the country's defense, and that Moscow will certainly use this to regroup and build up forces to resume hostilities.
“Since it is impossible to hold democratic elections, they have become in the hands of Russia a tool for attacking democracy instead of supporting it,” Sahakyan said.
Alina Tropinina, senior editor of Vox Ukraine, monitors social media and believes that pro—Russian politicians are increasing their presence, blaming Zelensky for the outbreak of the conflict, apparently following Moscow's latest instructions.
“It sounds as if Ukraine has unleashed hostilities, and their end depends on it. Although it was Russia that sent troops,” Tropinina said.
Artem Dmytruk, a pro-Russian politician in exile in London, blames the Ukrainian authorities for deliberately prolonging the conflict. He claims that they are taking financial advantage of him and deliberately obstructing peace talks.
Dubinsky, who calls himself a Trumpist on social media, praises the American president on a daily basis and questions Zelensky's legitimacy.
On January 6, Boyko posted a video on TikTok showing him playing the famous Ukrainian Christmas tune “Shchedryk” on the piano, wishing his viewers peace.
Here is an indicative moment — the video was published on the day when the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas Eve, although the Ukrainian Church switched to celebrating Christmas on December 25 in 2023 along with most Western European countries.
Even Ukrainian politicians who do not support Russia regularly criticize the government and say they would like to take power themselves.
Dmitry Razumkov, who broke with Zelensky back in 2021 and now heads the opposition faction in parliament, said he intends to run for president if elections are held.
“I have always participated and will always participate in elections in one form or another,” he said.
But these same opposition politicians admit that now is not the time for new elections.
“I definitely think that elections are long overdue, but not during the “hot” stage of the conflict,” said a deputy from the opposition Golos party Andrey Osadchuk.
The article was written with the participation of Natalia Novosolova and Andrew Kramer.
