Both the United States and Russia have been calling for new elections in Ukraine, also after President Putin has branded Zelensky as 'illegitimate' due to previously canceling presidential elections, citing martial law amid the war.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has issued some interesting new comments weighing in on the 'what's next' from Moscow's perspective after Zelensky is eventually out, and a new president steps in. The top Russian diplomat expressed skepticism that things will actually change substantially in Kiev.
If Zelensky gets ousted, Lavrov began in the interview with Kommersant, then the Kremlin believes it likely someone else will simply carry on the "Russophobic" regime in Ukraine with a new "half-Fuhrer".
"Europe will do everything to ensure the regime does not change in its essence," Lavrov stated, before asserting provocatively, "They’ll find some new half-Fuhrer… but the essence of the regime will remain."
He further weighed on current French and British-led efforts to forge a 'coalition of the willing' to provide European boots on the ground, ostensibly as a 'peacekeeping' force for Ukraine.
"They have come up with a 'resilience force'... In other words, in order to maintain Ukraine’s resilience, they are not going to send blockade troops... but the military of ‘civilized’ Western countries," Lavrov said sarcastically, as cited in English-language Russian media.
Among the chief complains Moscow has long presented before the world is that the Ukrainian government suppresses the rights of Russian-speakers in Ukraine. Kiev authorities have also been persecuting the largest Orthodox Church of Ukraine, because it maintains spiritual communion with Moscow.
For example, a regional church media source reports the following violent incident from last week:
At least four churches were attacked by these schismatics and nationalists in just one day this week, Tuesday, April 8. They assaulted several people, leaving at least one young woman bleeding, reports Foma, with reference to Ukrainian outlets. In some cases, they managed to seize the churches, and in some they were driven away by the Orthodox parishioners.
Early in the morning, St. Michael’s Church in the village of Svetilnya, Kyiv Province, was seized. Police officers sat in a parked car idly watching as an unknown man cut through the church doors with an angle grinder.
Lavrov in the interview called out Western capitals for continuing to support this harsh crackdown on religious freedom and language rights. Much of the population of the east and south of Ukraine has long spoken Russian as their first language.
"All these peacekeeping schemes drawn up by the Macrons and Starmers are based on the need to preserve at least a piece of land where a Nazi, openly Russophobic regime will remain, geared towards preparing another war against Russia, as was done with the Minsk agreements," Lavrov said.
