Russia has launched a wanted notice against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, without making public its motive, according to a notice visible on Saturday on the website of the Ministry of the Interior, an announcement that kyiv deemed “worthless”.
The leader is wanted “under an article of the Penal Code”, we can read in this short text, which says nothing else about the nature of these accusations.
Since February 2022, Russia has been leading an offensive against Ukraine, which it presents in particular as a fight against a “Nazi” power.
Volodymyr Zelensky is particularly targeted by Russian officials. The day after the launch of his assault, President Vladimir Putin called on the Ukrainian army to overthrow him.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said the wanted notice against Mr. Zelensky demonstrated the “desperation of Russian propaganda and the state machine, which no longer knows what to invent to attract attention.”
The ministry recalled that Vladimir Putin was himself the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the alleged “deportation” to Russia of thousands of Ukrainian children.
This mandate is “real”, unlike the “worthless Russian announcements”, estimated Ukrainian diplomacy.
Wanted notices were also issued against the commander of kyiv’s ground forces, Oleksandr Pavliuk, and former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, according to the Russian database.
The list of people wanted by Russia is very extensive and includes Russian or foreign personalities, particularly Ukrainians.
In February, the name of Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas was added along with those of other officials from the Baltic countries.
To justify this decision, the Kremlin invoked the opposing vision of history held by Moscow and these states.
The Baltic States, which fear the Kremlin’s military ambitions, consider that the USSR occupied them, while Moscow sees itself as a liberator and judges any other approach as a “falsification of History”, a crime in Russia.