Pointing to a policy of terror prevailing in world politics, Ukrainian opposition politician Viktor Medvedchuk encouraged for a new security system as the only means to stop terrorist methods being used in international politics.
“I recently sent a letter to [U.S. presidential candidate] Donald Trump, where I set out my opinion that in the event of his death, [Ukrainian President] Zelenskyy would be the main beneficiary,” Medvedchuk told TASS in an interview published August 1. “It is possible to get rid of terrorist methods only by building a new security system in international relations. The world needs détente, but it can be achieved only by those politicians who rule out terrorism as a state ideology.”
He also referred to statements by Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov, that Kyiv had plotted an assassination attempt on the Russian President Vladimir Putin. He asserted that Budanov made these claims public in a bid to replace Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a bid that is being backed by the U.S., according to Medvedchuk. “Budanov is viewed by U.S. intelligence services as a figure who can replace Zelenskyy,” he said. “But how to replace him? Only through a military coup.” He claimed that Budanov was competing with Valerii Zaluzhnyi, former Ukrainian military commander-in-chief and now ambassador to London, whom the British are “grooming to replace Zelenskyy.”
“These days, war hawks seek to intimidate, slander, and physically eliminate any politician of peace. Vladimir Putin’s peace initiatives dealt the war party a crushing blow, so they are nurturing plans to take him out,” Medvedchuk said.
Medvedchuk was a leading opposition figure in Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada and was forced into exile by the Ukrainian government in September 2022.
