Biden’s invitation declined
Doesn’t Olena Zelenska want to sit next to Yulia Navalnaya?
March 6, 2024, 4:18 p.m
It could be a powerful symbol for US President Biden: the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Selenska, and Navalny’s widow listening to the State of the Union speech together. However, Selenska apparently doesn’t want to come, which could also have something to do with Yulia Navalnaya.
Olena Zelenska, Ukraine’s first lady, has declined an invitation from the White House to attend Thursday’s State of the Union address. This is reported by the Washington Post, citing insiders. In doing so, the wife of the Ukrainian president is foregoing one of Washington’s most venerable events and at the same time underscoring the complicated political situation in her war-torn country.
At the invitation, the report says, Zelenska was supposed to sit near Jill Biden, the wife of US President Joe Biden, and Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in camp. The image of Zelenska and Navalnaya, both symbols of resistance against Russian President Vladimir Putin, would have provided a powerful backdrop for President Biden’s speech.
But apparently Navalnaya’s possible presence is causing Ukrainians unease, the report continues. Apparently they still resent Navalny’s statement that Crimea, which was illegally annexed in 2014, belongs to Russia. The fact that Navalny later supported Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders from 1991 apparently did not change this picture. “While in the West he was always seen as someone who fought bravely and courageously against Putin, in Ukraine Navalny is seen as a supporter of Russian nationalism and imperialism,” the Washington Post quoted Alina Polyakova, president of the Center for European Policy think tank, as saying Analysis. “Navalny was of course against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but in 2014, when Russia first invaded Ukraine, he was very much in line with the general Russian view, which saw Crimea as part of Russia’s historic land,” said Polyakova.
Even after the Oscar ceremony for a documentary about Navalny in March 2023, Ukrainians did not speak well of Navalnaya. In her acceptance speech, she praised her husband’s courage – but did not mention Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine in a single syllable. According to a report in the Kyiv Independent, with this omission Navalnaya was using the narrative of an innocent Russian population being taken hostage by an evil dictator.
However, none of this was officially given as a reason for Selenska’s cancellation. “However, due to planned events, including a planned visit to Kiev with children from an orphanage, the First Lady will unfortunately not be able to attend the event,” it said instead.
Navalnaya isn’t coming either
However, Navalnaya also declined to attend Biden’s speech. “Julia was actually invited and considered attending,” her spokeswoman Kira Jarmisch told the Washington Post. “Julia’s husband died two weeks ago. She was traveling the whole time. Today is the first day she’s even been home. Like every person, she needs time to recover, and although she’s very happy with the invitation “I appreciate it, she needs to recover at least a little now.”
According to the newspaper, a US official said the White House probably did not inform Kiev that Navalnaya had decided not to attend. However, the presence of the widow of the former most important Russian opponent of the Kremlin was not the only concern of the Ukrainians.
Another is apparently that Kiev does not want to be associated too closely with the Biden administration. Although Biden is Ukraine’s most important advocate, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government is apparently trying to avoid taking a position that is too clear. When Zelensky traveled to Washington in December, he went to great lengths to portray aid to Ukraine as a bipartisan issue. “He had to walk a fine line in order not to give the impression that he was too supportive of President Biden, although of course he supported Biden’s agenda to arm and equip Ukraine,” Polyakova said.
Kiev is currently desperately trying to persuade Republicans in the House of Representatives to allow a vote on Biden’s request for $60 billion in aid – something Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump rejects. Ukraine is running out of artillery against the better-equipped Russian forces and is beginning to lose strategic locations. In his speech on Thursday, Biden is expected to call on Republicans in the House of Representatives to pass funding for Ukraine “as quickly as possible,” writes the Washington Post, citing a White House official.