Kiev’s leaders ‘totally illegitimate’ – Putin
The Ukrainian leadership is totally illegitimate and has no legal right to give orders to the army and push more people towards death, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.
Authorities in Kiev have effectively usurped power in the country, and those who carrying their orders have become accomplices in crimes, the Russian leader said, during a meeting with Moscow’s key regional allies in Astana, Kazakhstan on Thursday.
“[The Ukrainian authorities] did not go to elections. They are totally illegitimate today. And from a purely legal point of view, they do not even have the right to give orders to the armed forces, since they are usurpers of power,” Putin said.
Parliamentary and presidential elections in Ukraine scheduled for October 2023 and March 2024 were not held after Vladimir Zelensky announced in December 2023 that no polls would take place while martial law imposed during the conflict with Russia remains in force.
Addressing his counterparts from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Russian president said the Ukrainian leadership had “no right to push people to their death and drive them into battle,” describing such orders as “criminal.”
“For what, for example, should forcibly mobilized Ukrainian military personnel and officers give their lives today? For the Bandera neo-Nazi regime that has taken up residence in Kiev? For its leaders who have already lost their legitimacy?” Putin asked.
Zelensky remains in power in Ukraine despite his term in office having officially expired in May. He scrapped the scheduled presidential election, calling the vote “untimely.” Zelensky cited the martial law he imposed after the escalation of the conflict with Russia in February 2022, which has been repeatedly extended by the Ukrainian parliament since then. Earlier this month, the measure was prolonged once again, until February 7, 2025.
Meanwhile, a poll conducted by the Sociological Association of Ukraine and published earlier this week revealed that, if a presidential election were held now, only 16% of Ukrainian voters would back Zelensky.
