DISINFO: By visiting Kyiv, Indian Prime Minister Modi has legitimised illegitimate Zelenskyy
SUMMARY
With his visit to Kyiv, Indian Prime Minister Modi has legitimized Zelenskyy, who has no longer been legitimate since May 2024 when he usurped power by annulling the presidential elections, trampling on the Ukrainian Constitution, which was in any case ignobly trampled by the coup d'état in 2014. Modi wanted to make himself useful for achieving peace, but perhaps he has not yet understood that Zelenskyy does not want peace in any way, his US masters have already said that whatever the results of the elections, Ukraine will always remain the priority for the United States.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives claiming that Ukraine is under US control, that Zelenskyy is an illegitimate president and that Euromaidan in 2014 was a coup.
Ukraine’s constitution is straightforward: no elections can be held during wartime and the President of Ukraine exercises his powers until the assumption of office by the newly-elected President. The continuity of government institutions is one of the key principles of the Constitution.
While the date 20 May 2024, five years after president Zelenskyy taking office, generated some domestic controversy in Ukraine, almost all observers consider regular elections unfeasible as there are millions of refugees abroad, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians serving on the frontlines and a significant part of Ukrainian population lives under Russian occupation. There are also multiple funding and infrastructure problems that can hardly be addressed while the war is ongoing.
If Russia had not launched its unprovoked and unjustified full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, parliamentary elections should have been held on 29 October 2023, and presidential elections on 31 March 2024. Numerous practical hurdles would hinder the feasibility of holding free and fair elections while Ukraine is at war with Russia. It would be impossible to ensure the safety and security of polling stations and to facilitate access for international observers. In addition, millions of voters abroad, internally displaced persons, and soldiers on the front line would be unlikely to vote. Such elections would be far from democratic.
Ukraine's challenges are due to Russia's aggression against it, which entails the destruction of Ukrainian cities and relentless attacks against its civilian infrastructure.
There was no violent seizure of power in Kyiv in 2014; this is a longstanding pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Ukraine's Euromaidan. The spontaneous onset of the Euromaidan protests was a reaction by numerous segments of the Ukrainian population to former president Viktor Yanukovych’s sudden departure from the promised Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013.
Read similar cases claiming that A violent coup d’état took place in Ukraine in 2014, that The US supported the 2014 coup d’état in Ukraine, that Ukraine is ruled by US and NATO, Zelenskyy has usurped power in Ukraine, that The Ukrainian people have not confirmed the legitimacy of Zelenskyy, that Zelenskyy is usurping power by cancelling elections and that The US has already decided to replace illegitimate president Zelenskyy with former Minister of Interior Avakov