MOSCOW, July 30. /TASS/. Western intelligence agencies allegedly support Ukrainian Ambassador to the UK Valery Zaluzhny as a replacement for Vladimir Zelensky; a UN-led conference on Palestinian statehood revealed growing divisions within the West over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; and the US and China have extended their 90-day tariff ceasefire without setting a new deadline. These stories topped Wednesday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.
The potential appointment of former Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny as President of Ukraine would not necessarily lead to a resolution of the conflict, experts told Izvestia. According to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), the United States and the United Kingdom recently held a closed-door meeting in the Alps with Ukrainian officials, including Presidential Office Head Andrey Yermak, to discuss Zaluzhny’s possible candidacy. The SVR noted that Zaluzhny, currently serving as Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK, is being considered for the country’s top office. The agency added that this may also shed light on the recent restrictions imposed on Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies.
"According to information received by the SVR, representatives of the United States and the United Kingdom recently held a secret meeting in one of the Alpine resort towns, attended by the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andrey Yermak, Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense Kirill Budanov, and former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, now Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Valery Zaluzhny. The participants discussed the prospect of replacing Vladimir Zelensky as head of the Kiev regime. All parties to the meeting agreed that the issue was long overdue," the SVR said in a statement.
