Russia opens criminal case against Zelensky and adds him to search list

Moscow. Russia yesterday opened a criminal case against the president of Ukraine, Volodymir Zelensky and included him on a list of wanted people; Likewise, he announced the search for the former interim Minister of Defense of that country Mijaíl Koval, current rector of the Defense University, although in neither case did he make the reason public.

The Russian Interior Ministry published in its database: “Zelensky, born in 1978, a native of the city of Krivoi Rog, Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, is wanted ‘under an ‘unspecified’ article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation’, the Interfax agency reported yesterday.

In addition to the above, on that list of those wanted for unspecified criminal charges, there are the Ukrainian deputy Petro Poroshenko and General Oleksandr Pavlyuk, commander of the Ukrainian ground forces.

Despair

In an online statement published the same day, Ukraine’s foreign ministry dismissed reports of Zelensky’s inclusion, saying it is evidence of the desperation of the Russian state machinery and propaganda.

The list of names also includes ministers from Estonia and Lithuania, as well as the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, who last year prepared an arrest warrant against Putin for war crimes, the Ap agency indicated.

Meanwhile, Moscow assured that the exercises of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) represent preparations for a possible war; Meanwhile, the high representative of the European Union (EU), Josep Borrell, stated that President Putin represents an existential threat and that the majority of the European Council considers that Russia is now the main threat facing Europe.

The military maneuvers that the Atlantic Alliance will carry out for four months near the Russian borders, known as Steadfast Defender, are proof that this coalition is preparing for a possible conflict with Russia, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson said yesterday.

“NATO is currently conducting the largest exercise since the cold War, Steadfast Defender. According to its scenario, the alliance’s actions are practiced using all instruments, including hybrid and conventional weapons,” spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

“We have to admit that NATO is seriously preparing for a ‘potential conflict’ with us,” he added.

At the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom, Josep Borrell assured that if Putin succeeds in Ukraine, he won’t stop therebefore warning about the prospect of having a puppet government in kyiv like that of Belarus, with Russian troops on the Polish border, and Russia controlling 44 percent of the world grain market.

In the field of war, Moscow affirmed yesterday that air defense systems shot down four US-produced Army Tactical Missile Systems projectiles launched by Ukrainian troops over the Crimean peninsula.

In addition, four M113 armored vehicles, four Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, two Himars multiple rocket launcher systems, all of American manufacture, as well as an IRIS-T air defense system, produced in France, were destroyed, among others.