Russian President Vladimir Putin once again stated that, in his opinion, Volodymyr Zelensky is “not legitimate” and “the only legitimate authorities in Ukraine are the Verkhovna Rada and its speaker.”
“The Constitution of Ukraine provides for the extension of the powers of the Rada only. It says nothing about the extension of the president's powers. The law says that presidential elections are not held during martial law. But who said that they should be extended? There is nothing in the Constitution about this. But there is Article 111, which says that in this case, the powers of the supreme power, in fact, the presidential powers, are transferred to the speaker of the parliament. Moreover, under martial law, the powers of the parliament are extended,” Putin said.
It should be noted that Ruslan Stefanchuk is currently the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada.
Putin also said that “the West wants to hold the current government responsible for unpopular decisions such as lowering the conscription age, and then they will simply be replaced.”
In addition, he believes that “the final answer to the question of the legitimacy of the government should be given by the political and legal systems of Ukraine.”
Earlier, Putin said that the issue of Zelensky's “legitimacy” is important for Russia in the event of any agreements to end the war.
The Russian president declared his readiness to negotiate on the basis of the Istanbul agreements: “Russia has never refused to negotiate on Ukraine. Russia is ready to continue the negotiation process on the basis that was in Istanbul.”
Putin also commented on the possibility of Moscow's participation in global peace summits on Ukraine.
“Russia has no answer to the question of participating in any conferences on Ukraine, because it is unclear what they are about,” he said.
