Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov requested, this Thursday, the organization of presidential elections in Ukraine, considering Zelensky's mandate to be over.
In recent days, Russia has been playing a new music which could, in the long term, allow it to justify a refusal to sit at the negotiating table with Volodymyr Zelensky.
Thus, after Vladimir Putin a little earlier, it was Sergei Lavrov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who spoke, this Thursday during a press conference, of negotiations “with legitimate Ukrainian authorities”. Implying that Volodymyr Zelensky was not.
“President Putin made it clear that Ukrainians must act as they wish in their country so that the situation in kyiv complies with the Ukrainian Constitution.” And Lavrov was more direct: “If they want their president to have legitimate authority, this potential president must go through elections.”
For Russia, “as things currently stand, only the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) and its president retain their legitimacy under the Ukrainian Constitution.” A parliament renewed in 2021, before the Russian invasion, for a mandate of 5 years, until 2026.
Elected in 2019 for five years
It was in 2019 that Volodymyr Zelensky was elected president of the Republic of Ukraine for 5 years with 73% of the votes in the second round. A mandate which was to end this year with elections initially scheduled for March 31, 2024. However, no presidential election has been organized and no other is on the Ukrainian agenda for the coming months.
And for good reason, since the outbreak of war by Russia, Ukraine has lived under martial law, leading the government to postpone the vote as long as it remains in force.
In summary, if Russia wants to see a presidential election held in Ukraine soon, it must simply end the war. However, the Kremlin does not envisage an end to the conflict “until the root causes of this crisis have been eliminated”. “As long as they are in place, there can be no agreement.” “We will not accept a temporary ceasefire and then resume the conflict,” Lavrov further emphasized.
Among these “root causes” which justified the war, Russia intended to get rid of “the Nazi regime in Kiyv”. This is how she describes the presidency of Volodymyr Zelensky. In effect, Russia is suggesting that it will negotiate with Ukraine… without Zelensky. Which amounts to thinking that the Kremlin will never be willing to negotiate peace in Ukraine.
