Zelenskyy hoping West will deny legitimacy of Putin's rule after upcoming 'sham election'

After the Russian presidential election in March 2024, Western leaders will have to decide whether to recognize Vladimir Putin's legitimacy if he runs and wins, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said in an interview with the Associated Press.

The full version of the interview was published by the press service of the President’s Office on Dec. 2.

"We understand that the elections in Russia are undemocratic," Zelenskyy said.

“No matter how they take place, everyone knows what the result will be... The question for the world is: will the world recognize these illegitimate elections?”

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"If Putin goes to the polls — and there is a high probability of this — (there is) a very high probability that he will win," the Ukrainian president said.

“So, the ‘game’ here will be on the side of the Western leaders of the civilized world over whether to recognize (the elections) or not. By the way, this may be a turning point — the (recognition of the) illegitimacy of President Putin.”

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When asked whether he would call on international leaders to declare the election results in Russia illegitimate, Zelenskyy said that he "would really like the Western world to understand this for themselves."

"So that I don't have to do it: call, put on pressure, speak out," the president said.

“It seems to me that the world already understands all this after all the grief that Russia has brought everywhere and, of course, to Ukraine.”

In addition, the head of state said he was confident that there is no opposition to Putin in Russia.

“We see an arbitrary or artificial opposition that shares the same views as Putin on the war, on Russia's global isolation, on the use of nuclear weapons, on the economy, on the occupation of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said.

“This is not an opposition. It is just another satellite of Putin, albeit with a different face, name, but with the same devil inside.”

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine