An article in the American publication Politico examining Kyiv’s plan if Russia assassinates President Volodymyr Zelensky has given rise to a wave of Russian fakes claiming the West is fed up with the Ukrainian President and plans to “liquidate” him. There is absolutely nothing in the article about removing Zelensky, it simply examines possible scenarios in the event of a Russian assassination attempt on the President of Ukraine.
Russian publications such as the ultra-right orthodox site Tsargrad are spreading disinformation claiming that the West’s “displeasure” with the Ukrainian government’s “terrorist policy against Moscow” has “reached a peak.” According to the Russian propagandist site Antifascist, the growing number of attacks on Russian military installations will lead to the “premature elimination” of the Ukrainian President by “US representatives and their satellites” who have already begun discussing Zelensky’s successor.
“Kyiv has again violated America’s strictest ban about unspoken red lines that Washington drew for Volodymyr Zelensky… the strike on the Crimean bridge is yet another crossing of the red line… The United States and its satellites are definitely not happy with the head of Nezalezhna (Russian media often belittlingly refer to Ukraine as Nezalezhna, using the Ukrainian word for independent ed.)… The collective West thinks that a replacement may be needed at any moment,” Tsargrad claims.
According to international law, Russian ammunition depots, as well as the bridge across the Kerch Strait that Russian invaders built illegally, are legal targets for attacks by the Ukrainian military. Targeting such sites are not “terrorism acts” – Ukraine has the right to carry out any military operation with the goal of liberating its territories from Russian occupation. A detailed analysis of this narrative can be found in the StopFake article Fake: Ukrainian Defense Minister ‘Confessed to Terrorist Activities’.
The Russian media base their fake stories about“Western intelligence services preparing to eliminate Zelensky” on a manipulative and distorted interpretation of an August 1, 2023 Politico article “Ukraine’s plan if Russia assassinates Zelensky”.
Written by Politico’s Europe opinion editor Jamie Dettmer, the article posits that the idea of a possible assassination of Zelensky can’t afford to be ignored neither by Ukraine, nor the West. According to Ukrainian authorities, the Russians have made several unsuccessful attempts to assassinate Zelensky since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion. The article points out that according to the Ukrainian Constitution, there is a succession plan in place. In the event that the president is unable to fulfill his duties, for whatever reason, the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament temporarily takes over leadership of the country. The current chairman of the Ukrainian parliament is Ruslan Stefanchuk, a member of President Zelensky’s Servant of the People party.
Article 112, Section V of the Ukrainian Constitution reads as follows:
“In the event of the premature termination of the powers of the President of Ukraine in accordance with Articles 108, 109, 110, 111 of this Constitution, the execution of the duties of the President of Ukraine is placed upon the chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament the Verkhovna Rada for the period until the election and assumption of office of the new President of Ukraine”.
Article 112 of the Ukrainian Constitution was already enacted in 2014 in connection with the flight of then President Viktor Yanukovych to Russia. Yanukovych is accused of facilitating Russian aggression against Ukraine and committing high treason and conspiracy. After Yanukovych’s flight, the Ukrainian parliament called for special presidential and parliamentary elections. The speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, Oleksandr Turchynov, temporarily succeeded to the presidency in accordance with the Constitution. 2014 early presidential elections saw Petro Poroshenko win the Ukrainian presidency in the first round with 54.7% of the vote.
