Novynskyi’s associates represented Putin’s interests, speaking to me directly at start of full-scale invasion – Zelenskyy
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the statements about the ban on talks with Putin an exclusively Russian narrative.
He said this during a briefing, Censor.NET reports.
"This is the narrative of the Russians that I cannot allegedly talk to Putin. I want to remind everyone how it all happened. I issued a decree, I put the NSDC's decision into effect by decree. Ukraine has received many times ultimatums from Russia, specifically from Putin. It started when Mr. Medvedchuk's people, Novinskyi, all of this is there, witnesses, recordings, etc., represented Putin's interests, speaking directly to me on the phone at the most difficult moment when we were under siege. They talked about how to surrender Ukraine, territories, etc., how and where I should run, otherwise I would not be there, my family, etc. It's a long, long story," he explained.
According to Zelenskyy, there were a lot of such ultimatums.
"When someone represented the interests of Russia, namely Putin, and gave the appropriate signals. So all these people communicated with Putin and really wanted to represent Ukraine's interests. There were not one or two such platforms for such signals and so on, but many. With my NSDC decision, I basically did what the Constitution of Ukraine says. I am the only one who can fulfill this mission. No one but me can negotiate Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, our course. No one but me can negotiate with the leaders of Russia and other countries," the President emphasized.
According to Article 106 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the president has exclusive constitutional powers to represent the state in international relations, to lead foreign policy activities, to negotiate and conclude international treaties of Ukraine, Zelenskyy quoted the Constitution.
"That is why I represent the interests of our state. To prevent this separatism, we introduced a decision of the National Security and Defense Council so that people like Novinsky, Medvedchuk... I don't even want to say who from which other bodies did all this. And they will be held accountable for all of this someday. That is why Putin's narrative that I have to cancel something is a narrative of the Russian Federation alone," he summarized.
