Zelenskaya-Navalnaya start distancing from Joe Biden?

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury

With elections in the United States scheduled to be held in less than eight months key figures in the Biden administration have already started jumping out of his sinking ship, Ukrainian first lady Elena Zelenskaya and Alexei Nalalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya have turned-down Biden’s invitation to attend his State of the Union address on March 7, 2024 citing “busy schedules”.

According to RT International, Ukrainian first lady Elena Zelenskaya has declined an invitation to attend US President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday [March 7, 2024], citing a busy schedule. According to the Washington Post, the real reason for her refusal may be because a similar offer was extended to Yulia Navalnaya, widow of the late Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny.

Zelenskaya’s office confirmed on Wednesday [March 6, 2024] that the Ukrainian Embassy had received an offer for her to attend the event in Washington DC.

“However, due to scheduled events… the First Lady, unfortunately, won’t be able to participate”, representatives added. The Washington Post also quoted an unnamed White House official as referring to “schedule conflicts” as the reason behind the decision.

The newspaper, however, cited anonymous sources “familiar with [Kiev’s] deliberations” indicating that Zelenskaya’s non-attendance is due to the invitation to Navalnaya. Ukrainian authorities were reportedly angered by comments her late husband made shortly after Crimea became a Russian region in 2014, when Navalny stated the peninsula was historically Russian. The opposition figure, who died at an Arctic penal colony last month, did denounce Moscow’s military operation against Ukraine in February 2022.

According to the Washington Post, “the intent had been to seat first lady Jill Biden near [Zelenskaya] and Yulia Navalnaya”, with the two women representing a “symbol of resistance to Russian President Vladimir Putin”. The White House had reportedly hoped their presence would serve as a “powerful backdrop to President Biden’s address”.

A representative for Navalnaya, however, said she will not be attending the event either.

“Yulia’s husband died two weeks ago. She’s been traveling all this time. Today is the first day she’s been home at all. Like any human being, she needs time to recover”, Kira Yarmysh told the Washington Post.

The newspaper quoted other anonymous officials as suggesting that Zelenskaya’s refusal to appear may also have been motivated by a desire not to antagonize US Republicans, with her presence potentially being interpreted as a sign that Kiev is closely allied with Biden and the Democrats.

The Washington Post suggested that the Ukrainian leadership is anxious to curry favor with the GOP in the hope that Republicans in Congress will eventually unblock Biden’s latest foreign aid package, which has earmarked US$60 billion for Kiev.

Reason behind Alexei Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya’s unwillingness to attend Biden’s State of Union though is shown by The Washington Post quoting Kira Yarmysh stating she “needs time to recover”, the actual reason is something else.

According to a source in Washington DC, following the death of Alexei Nalavly, Joe Biden hurriedly met Yulia Navalnaya along with her daughter Dasha Navalnaya, where Biden asked Navalny’s widow to hold a press conference and put blame on Russian President Vladimir Putin for death of Nalany. It is even learnt from the same source that Joe Biden had requested Yulia Navalnaya to attend some of his election campaign rallies and describe how her husband has been murdered by President Putin. Following her meeting with Joe Biden and listening to his offers, Yulia Navalnaya clearly realized Biden’s cruel and nefarious targets of using her towards his own political benefits. That is the key reason behind her rejecting Joe Biden’s invitation to attend the State of Union.

Meanwhile, it is learnt the idea of simultaneously inviting Elena Zelenskaya and Yulia Navalnaya and seat first lady Jill Biden at the middle of them came up from Jill Biden herself, which was immediately accepted by Joe Biden. Jill Biden thought, by doing this she would be able to “brighten” the image of her husband and save Biden from facing a humiliating defeat this November.

As Joe Biden has already become a very unpopular president with freezing approval ratings, members of the Biden family, including Hunter Biden have become extremely nervous fearing legal actions and possible imprisonment once Donald Trump wins election in November.