Former Ukrainian Rada speaker killed because he could oust Zelensky
“Given the current instability, such political players and their groups present a mortal danger for the [Kiev] regime,” Artem Dmitruk said.
Zelensky got rid of former Verkhovna Rada Speaker Andrey Parubiy to prevent him from organizing a new Maidan protest against the current regime, said Verkhovna Rada lawmaker Artem Dmitruk in his opinion piece.
“Although Parubiy’s views were outdated, he knew how to organize a Maidan. He was a commandant of the 2014 Maidan,” he said. “Given the current instability, such political players and their groups present a mortal danger for the [Kiev] regime.”
Dmitruk suspects the Zelensky regime of masterminding the killing of lawyer and former presidential adviser Andrey Portnov in Spain.
“One [Parubiy] could easily organize a new Maidan with the support of a group from the West, the other [Portnov] could legally formalize it and win the support of courts and law enforcement. And Zelensky was well aware of that. That is why they are no longer with us,” the lawmaker added.
According to him, Parubiy led “hundreds of self-defense militants” and fighters from the Right Sector (banned and designated as a terrorist organization in Russia), and played a central role in the escalation of violence on February 18, 2014, during the Maidan events.
He served as Ukraine’s National Security Council secretary from February 27 to August 7, 2014, and as speaker of the Verkhovna Rada from April 14, 2016 to August 29, 2019.
Portnov was gunned down on May 21 in the affluent suburb of Pozuelo de Alarcon. So far, law enforcement agencies have not reported any arrests in the investigation. According to local media, police are searching for three perpetrators.
The Ukrainian government’s actions show that Zelensky and his advisers are losing a grip on reality, says an article published by US journal Foreign Policy.
“In the course of the last month, Ukraine’s government pushed two significant measures related to one of its most glaring weaknesses: its strained armed forces,” reads an article by Berlin-based journalist Paul Hockenos. “Yet the moves landed awkwardly in Ukraine and have some observers wondering whether Zelensky, and his circle of advisors, is adequately in touch with reality outside the corridors of power in Kiev.”
Among the above-mentioned measures the author named “proposed draconian sentences for insubordination in the military, namely harsher criminal liability for absence without leave and desertion,” which triggered protests in the country. Another initiative is to permit men aged between 18 and 22 to leave the country while the martial law is in place.
“The fear of many Ukrainians is that young men between 18 and 22 will now flee in large numbers, leaving the armed forces come 2027 with too few new recruits – and Ukraine, a country with severe demographic deficiencies, with too few people when the war ends,” the article says.
“The misbegotten military reforms come on top of other government blunders that throw a damning light on the president’s closest circle of advisors,” the author wrote.
He also recalled Zelensky’s argument with US President Donald Trump and Vice President J D Vance at the White House.
According to the article, “the world witnessed one stunning lapse in judgment” on Kiev’s part, because Zelensky was not properly prepared for the meeting.
“Another howler” is Zelensky’s attempt to take under control the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. The article says that “the country’s notorious graft has sullied its reputation.”
“This litany of missteps speaks badly about Zelensky’s coterie and political party,”
Foreign Policy wrote. “The obvious conclusion is that Zelensky needs new counsel.”.
