Zelenskyy: After Russian elections, the game will be on West's side
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (photo: Getty Images)
After the presidential election in Russia, scheduled for March 2024, Western leaders must decide whether to recognize the legitimacy of dictator Vladimir Putin if he runs and wins, stated Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his interview for Associated Press.
"We understand that the elections in Russia are undemocratic. No matter how they are held, everyone knows what the result will be... The question to the world is: these may be illegitimate elections that the world will not recognize," the President said.
The President said that after 2014, there had been no such powerful blows to isolate Russia, despite its occupation of parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and Crimea.
"And now, if Putin goes to the elections, and there is probably a high probability of that and a very high chance that he will win. He is fighting with only himself, after all. Therefore, the "game" here will be on the side of the Western leaders of the civilized world, whether to recognize it or not. By the way, there may be a turning point - the illegitimacy of President Putin," Zelenskyy said.
According to him, he "would very much like the Western world to understand for itself" that the results of the elections in Russia would be illegitimate, said Zelenskyy answering the question of whether he would call on the international community to do so.
"I don't want to have to do it - call, put pressure, speak. It seems to me that the world already understands all this after all the grief that Russia has brought everywhere and, of course, to Ukraine," he said.
Presidential elections in Russia
In August of this year, the Russian dictator's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said that Putin would be re-elected with more than 90% of the vote.
According to Reuters, the dictator decided to run in the March presidential election, which will allow him to remain in power until at least 2030.
Later, it was reported that the Kremlin head had approved amendments to the presidential election law that would make it more difficult to monitor fraud.
