NATO member states are plotting to discredit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in order to remove him from power and organize elections to change the country’s leadership, claims the Moscow Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).
According to the SVR, NATO is uncertain about continuing military aid to Kyiv from the new American administration led by President Donald Trump. NATO hopes to „freeze” the conflict in Ukraine, but Zelensky remains the main obstacle to implementing such a plan, as stated in a statement published on Monday by the Russian intelligence service.
NATO "is increasingly considering a change of power in Ukraine" and intends to carry out a large-scale operation to discredit the Ukrainian president, accusing him of diverting over 1.5 billion dollars from funds allocated for the purchase of ammunition, the SVR press service mentioned by Newsweek states.
"Brussels assumes that the Ukrainian armed forces will soon be unable to control the increasingly powerful offensive of the Russian army," the quoted statement reads. NATO intends to get rid of Zelensky by organizing "pseudo-democratic elections" in Ukraine no later than this autumn, according to the SVR.
There is no indication that such a plot exists, as mentioned by the American publication, which stated that it contacted NATO and the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via email on this matter.
Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that Ukraine could hold elections this year if the fighting ends and there are strong security guarantees to deter Russia from resuming hostilities.
Zelensky's five-year term was supposed to end in 2024, but presidential and parliamentary elections cannot be held under martial law imposed by Ukraine in February 2022.
Keith Kellogg, Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, stated on Saturday to Reuters that Washington wants Kyiv to hold elections by the end of the year, as "most democratic nations have elections during wartime."
"I think it's good for democracy. This is the beauty of a strong democracy, you have more than one person who can run," Kellogg said.
"We believe what Putin did was terrible, he invaded the country, committed atrocities, did horrible things. But the injustice that existed is that somehow we made people believe that Ukraine would be able to push Russia back to the world as it looked in 2012 or 2014, before the Russians conquered Crimea," the American official added.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin has stated that Zelensky has no right to sign any documents in potential peace agreements because he has lost his legitimacy, as Ukraine could not hold presidential elections due to the ongoing war.
Moscow has long sought to discredit the Ukrainian government by claiming that Zelensky is an illegitimate president, despite martial law prohibiting elections during the war for safety reasons.
T.D.