Ukraine's First Lady Declines State of the Union Invitation

[nothingcontroversial]

Olena Zelenska declined the State of the Union Invitation because the White House wanted to seat her next to Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny.

link

[erbear]

Interesting. This is a little surprising to me.

[icedcoffee]

Navalny was no friend to Ukraine. Good for her.

[nothingcontroversial]

Mar 6, 2024 9:39:17 GMT -5 erbear said:

Interesting. This is a little surprising to me.

Navalny wasn't exactly "pro-Ukraine."

From this article:

When pressed on whether he would return Crimea to Ukraine were he to become Russia’s president, Navalny wrapped his “No” in an odd rhetorical question: “What? Is Crimea a sandwich or something that you can take and give back?” It was clear that his political position on Crimea was that it should “remain part of Russia”.


www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/3/4/why-ukraine-is-wary-of-the-russian-opposition


Just recently, Kyrylo Budanov, chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, claimed that Navalny did in fact die of a blood clot. When I first read this, I was surprised and assumed that it was a mis-translation of what he actually said.  For instance, I thought that he was perhaps being sarcastic and the sarcasm was lost when it was reported. However, I personally have come to believe that he is supporting the claim that Navalny died of a blood clot because the upper leadership of Ukraine doesn't want Americans to focus on attention as Navalny as some kind of folk hero or martyr, thus taking away attention from Ukraine's cause.

www.kyivpost.com/post/28630