Zelensky and Putin on the Times power list

Both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia’s Vladimir Putin have been included in Time Magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people.

The two presidents are on the list in the category of “leaders”, which also includes the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, the Prime Minister of Germany Olaf Scholz and the President of the United States Joe Biden.

Each entry comes with a small text, and this time Biden is also one of the magazine’s contributors. He has written about Zelensky.

– When Vladimir Putin started his brutal war against Ukraine and the Ukrainians needed their leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyj’s words resonated all over the world: “The president is here”, Biden opens his text.

He says Zelensky is a leader who “is worthy of the Ukrainian courage and resilience” while people across the country are fighting for freedom.

– Every time we talk together, I hear in Zelenskyj’s voice the indomitable will of a man who fully believes in his duty to the people, and who every day lives up to the solemn responsibility of leading the country through a dark and difficult time , the US president continues in the praise of his Ukrainian counterpart.

He says Zelensky has inspired the free world to be more united, more determined and more focused, and that Zelensky has left his mark on history and proved that Ukraine will survive.

The tone is quite different in the text about Vladimir Putin, written by Alexei Navalny, the opposition Russian who is serving a nine-year sentence in a labor camp.

– Perhaps Vladimir Putin’s true calling is to teach us a lesson – all of us from world leaders to ordinary people. He has done very well, Navalny writes, apparently opening with flattery.

– He has again reminded us that if you start with “just a little election fraud”, it always ends in dictatorship. And dictatorship leads to war. It’s a lesson we should not forget.

At the same time, Navalny accuses the world leader of being hypocritical when they have for years talked about a “pragmatic approach and the usefulness of international trade.

In this way, they have allowed themselves to enjoy Russian oil and gas, while Putin tightened his grip on power. But with sanctions and military and financial assistance, this war will cost far more than the lucrative oil and gas agreements, which were celebrated with champagne.

At the same time, Russia’s most famous political prisoner, Putin believes, is teaching us how a country can eradicate all economic progress made over 20 years.

– But the answer to the most important question he asks us: How to stop an evil, crazy man with an army, nuclear weapons and a permanent place in the UN Security Council – remains unanswered, Navalny writes.

(NTB)

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