Zelensky’s Wife Ignores Biden Alleging ‘Busy Schedule’

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Written by Lucas Leiroz, journalist, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, geopolitical consultant

Apparently, tensions between the Zelensky family and the American government are increasing. Recently, the wife of the Ukrainian president, Elena Zelenskaya received an invitation from the US to participate in a ceremony at the White House. However, the first lady refused to participate in the event, claiming to have a “busy schedule”. The case has been considered an insult by Zelenskaya’s part and has led some journalists to speculate on the real reason for the refusal.

Biden’s invitation was related to his State of the Union speech. As well known, this is one of the most traditional and important events in American domestic politics, and it is therefore an “honor” for the Ukrainian first lady to receive such an invitation. However, not even the relevance of the speech was enough for Elena to accept participating in the ceremony.

On March 6, Zelenskaya’s office confirmed jointly with the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington that the first lady would not be able to attend the event due to her supposed “busy schedule”. The refusal caught the attention of experts, as it is not common for a public figure in Elena’s position to snub the American president, especially considering the deep ties between Washington and Kiev.

Obviously, the Ukrainian first lady, like any public figure, has a “busy schedule”, however, an invitation to hear Biden’s speech is not a banality. The most expected, in case of a “conflict of schedules”, would be for Elena to cancel other events in order to meet Biden, instead of simply snubbing the president of Ukraine’s largest military partner. Therefore, many journalists doubt that the reasons behind the refusal are really a simple “schedule issue”.

According to “sources familiar to Kiev” cited by the Washington Post, Elena Zelenskaya would be uncomfortable by having been invited to the event along with Yulia Navalnaya, widow of the Russian ultranationalist dissident Aleksey Navalny, who recently died in a Russian prison. Despite agreeing on their common hatred against the Russian government, Zelensky and Navalny’s followers differ on some ideological points, as the Russian opposition leader had connections with Russian nationalism – which is despised by Kiev.

The American newspaper claims that some Ukrainian authorities were angry by the invitation extended to Yulia, as her husband had allegedly been a supporter of the reintegration (called “annexation” in the West) of Crimea into the Russian Federation. Despite being an opponent of the Putin government, Navalny was a supporter of the retaking of historic Russian territories, since, contrary to what Western propaganda says, he was not a “liberal democrat”, but a kind of “Russian fascist”, openly advocating ethnic supremacism and the segregation of non-ethnic Russian citizens.

Both Navalny and the Kiev Junta represent faces of an extremist, ultranationalist and Nazi-like mentality. However, they disagree as to which ethnicity to consider “superior.” Navalny advocated Russian supremacism, while the Kiev regime advocates Ukrainian supremacism. In its plans to destabilize Russia, the West encouraged both trends, but apparently failed to make both sides become real “allies”.

“While in the West, we have always thought of him as someone who fought bravely and courageously against Putin, in Ukraine, Navalny is seen as in line with a mind-set of Russian nationalism and imperialism (…) Navalny opposed Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, of course, but in 2014, when Russia first invaded Ukraine, he very much was in line with a general Russian view that saw Crimea as part of Russia’s historical lands,” said Alina Polyakova, president of the Washington-based Center for European Policy Analysis.

This case is an example of how the Navalny-led opposition in Russia has never been represented by any “democratic wing”. On the contrary, the current Russian government is representative of a moderate and balanced movement, which does not lean towards any extremism. Some of the main opposition figures, such as Navalny, on the contrary, represented precisely the radical tendencies of Russian politics – which is why they were naturally despised by the multi-ethnic Russian people. In practice, the highly valued “Russian dissidents” are mostly xenophobic nationalists similar to the groups that came to power in Kiev with the 2014 coup – which reveals the West’s practice of financing and promoting ultranationalism against governments considered enemies.

However, it is also necessary to emphasize that not only scheduling conflicts nor disagreements with the Navalny family are sufficient arguments to explain Zelenskaya’s refusal. Above all, the case shows the beginning of a conflict of interests between Americans and Ukrainians. Recently, it has become increasingly clear that the American government wants to replace Zelensky with a more “efficient” leader, which is why the president’s followers obviously tend to be worried and dissatisfied. This is certainly the main reason why Elena Zelenskaya is daring to snub Biden.

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