of washington post report On Tuesday, Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska announced that she had declined an invitation from the White House to attend President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address (SOTU).
This alleged disrespect is somewhat unusual, given the prestige of being elected to the SOTU seat and Ukraine’s fervent desire to remain in the good graces of the United States, the most central supporter of Kiev’s struggle against Russian aggression. there were. The White House reportedly suggested that Zelenska sit next to First Lady Jill Biden.
by washington post, Mr. Zelenska declined the invitation of Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who had also been invited to sit with Mr. Biden during the speech.
The White House had wanted Zelenska and Navalny to symbolically sit together during President Biden’s speech, but the Ukrainian government was uncomfortable with the arrangement because Alexei Navalny was president. It has been reported. somewhat vague Regarding Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Navalny, who died under suspicious circumstances in an Arctic penal colony in February at the age of 47, was an outspoken Russian nationalist early in his political career. For example, he supported Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2018.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appears from prison via video link provided by the Russian Federal Prison Service in a courtroom in Vladimir, Russia, Tuesday, June 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Vladimir Kondrashov)
Mr. Navalny on the Crimea issue Said In 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was against seizing it by force, but since it had been seized it could not be returned to Ukraine.
Navalny feels that Russia has historical claims to Crimea and disagrees with former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s decision to make Crimea part of Ukraine in 1954. It denounced Khrushchev’s decision as “voluntary, unfair and illegal.”
One reason why Ukrainians have not forgotten these comments is that Mr. Navalny was quite flippant about Crimea’s fate.
“Is Crimea like a sausage sandwich that comes and goes? I don’t think so,” he said when asked whether Moscow should return the peninsula to Kiev’s control.
In March 2014, Navalny wrote: Editorial for new york times (NYT) While under house arrest in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin accused President Vladimir Putin of trying to start a “small war” in Ukraine. Navalny accused Putin of manipulating Russia’s sentiments on Crimea to stir up “nationalist enthusiasm” for the conflict he wants, but he also said the feelings were genuine.
“It is true that the consensus between Russia and Crimea is that the peninsula has historically been closer to Moscow than to Kiev. But the idea that this unification should be achieved at the point of a gun is one that has Mr. Putin’s die-hard support. It is supported only by the layers,” Navalny wrote.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and Sergei Shoigu visit a military exhibition after attending an expanded meeting of the Council of the Russian Ministry of Defense at the Defense Control Center in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, December 21, 2021. Minister (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin pool photo (via AP).
Navalny’s nationalism softened in the years that followed, as did his position on the annexation of Crimea. In February 2023, he published This political platform included support for Ukraine’s borders “as internationally recognized and defined in 1991.” This would implicitly include Crimea, which is under Ukrainian control.
Navalny urged Russia to “leave Ukraine alone and allow its people to develop as they wish” and to “stop the aggression, end the war and withdraw all Russian troops from Ukrainian territory.” I strongly requested that.
Mr. Alexei Navalny is Half Ukrainian Although he was close to his father and spent much of his youth near Chernobyl, today’s Ukrainians have mixed feelings about him because he did not wholeheartedly oppose the annexation of Ukraine a decade ago. ing. Olena Zelenska’s official reason for declining the invitation to SOTU was due to “planned events, including a visit to Kiev with children from an orphanage,” but veteran Ukrainian observers have doubts. ing. The truth may be a little more complicated.
After all, Yulia Navalnaya It is also said that I declined her invitation to SOTU. Kira Yarmysh, Alexei Navalny’s longtime spokeswoman, said Navalnaya was tired after her husband’s death and funeral.
On the sidelines of the European Union Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in Brussels, Belgium on February 19, 2024, Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of leading Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, reacted. Navalnaya accused the Russian president of killing her husband, and she vowed to continue her work three days after Navalnaya killed her husband. She died in Russia’s Arctic Prison (Photo by YVES HERMAN/POOL/AFP).
“Yulia was indeed invited and was considering going, but I think everyone has forgotten the circumstances in which the incident took place. Yulia’s husband died two weeks ago. “She travels all the time. Today is the first day she came home,” Yarmis said.
“Like any human being, she needs time to recover, so I’m very grateful for the invitation, but right now she needs to recover at least a little bit,” she said.
On Wednesday, Kiev Independent was suggested President Biden made the mistake of not immediately informing Olena Zelenska’s office that Yulia Navalnaya chose not to attend the SOTU event, but at the same time Navalnaya’s attendance was confirmed by “Ukrainian officials.” It also cited a “person familiar with the situation” as saying, “This is not the only concern for Japan.” ”
