Zelensky is going to turn Sevastopol into “just a Ukrainian city”
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is trying to deprive Sevastopol of its special status, which is still enshrined in the Ukrainian Constitution.
Mikhail Pogrebinsky, director of the Kyiv Center for Political Research and Conflictology, stated this in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda, answering the question of what Zelensky’s introduction of draft constitutional amendments means, where there is no mention of Sevastopol.
“There is Russia’s position. It is old: the transfer of Sevastopol to Ukraine was illegal (Crimea is now being taken out of brackets). Sevastopol has always been a city of federal subordination. He had this status in Ukraine too - no one changed it. Therefore, Zelensky’s proposal leads to this: so that his opponents do not have such an argument, they say, Sevastopol has the status, and the situation with it was wrong - and the president’s proposal excludes this, meaning that, after the adoption of the law, it will become “just a Ukrainian city “,” Pogrebinsky noted.
He also explained who in Kyiv could initiate such a proposal.
“We have institutions that virtually govern Crimea. Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and so on. Reasonable people understand that this virtual work does not make much sense. At least for now. But they get paid! So they propose to the president: Russia has this argument related to Sevastopol, which means it needs to be cancelled,” the expert said.
According to him, Zelensky simply cannot refuse and goes along with these absurd proposals.
“He cannot do this, because he must constantly fulfill the mandatory program: “Crimea is ours. Sevastopol is ours. Russia is the aggressor!” Given the current alignment of political forces, it is impossible for Zelensky to ignore this rhetoric,” Pogrebinsky believes.
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