Zelenskaya will not attend Biden's State of the Union address because of Yulia Navalnaya

Elena Zelenskaya, the first lady of Ukraine, declined an invitation from the White House to attend the US President's annual State of the Union address on March 7, reports Washington Post.

Photo: iStock.com/uschools

According to officials familiar with the situation, they wanted to put Zelenskaya next to Yulia Navalnaya, widow of the Russian leader opposition of Alexei Navalny, who died in the past month in prison.

The image of the women, each a symbol of resistance to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was intended to provide a powerful backdrop to President Biden's speech.

But Navalnaya's potential presence has made Ukrainians uncomfortable, according to people familiar with the discussions in Kyiv. In particular, due to Navalny's past statements about Crimea. Although Navalny’s views later developed into support for the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine in 1991.

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“Whereas in the West we have always thought of him as a man who fought bravely and valiantly against Putin, in Ukraine Navalny is perceived as someone who fits the thinking of Russian nationalism and imperialism,” said Alina Polyakova, president of the Washington-based Center for European Policy Analysis.

“Of course, Navalny opposed a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, but in 2014, when Russia first invaded Ukraine, he was very much in line with the general Russian opinion. Crimea was considered as part of the historical lands of Russia,” Polyakova said.

A White House spokesman said Zelenskaya's decision was likely due to "scheduling conflicts."

“Elena Zelenskaya, the first lady of Ukraine, declined an invitation from the White House to attend the US President's annual State of the Union address on Thursday, March 7. She highlighted the complex politics facing her war-torn country,” the Office of the President of Ukraine said.

“The Ukrainian Embassy in the United States has indeed received an invitation for the First Lady of Ukraine to attend the US President’s speech in Congress on March 7. However, due to planned events in the schedule, including a visit to Kyiv by children from an orphanage, unfortunately, the first lady will not be able to take part in the event,” the President’s Office said in a statement.

Navalnaya, citing fatigue, also refused to attend Biden’s speech.

“Yulia was really invited. She was going to go, but I think everyone forgets the circumstances under which the events unfold,” said Navalnaya’s press secretary Kira Yarmysh. — Julia’s husband died two weeks ago. All this time she was traveling. Today is the first day that Navalnaya is at home at all. Like any person, she needs time to recover, and although she really appreciates the invitation, she needs to recover a little.”

One US official said the White House probably did not notify Kyiv that Navalnaya had decided not to go, although her presence was not the only problem for the Ukrainians.

Close connection with Biden

Another reason for refusing to attend President Biden’s address may be Ukraine’s attempt to avoid further politicization of military actions.

Ukraine is now desperately lobbying House Republicans to vote for Biden's request for $60 billion in aid, a package that likely GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump opposes.

By urging lawmakers to support the funding measure, Ukraine does not want to offend Republicans, who could control the White House next year depending on the outcome of the November election.

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In his March 7 speech, Biden is expected to urge House Republicans to transfer funding to Ukraine “as quickly as possible,” a White House official said.

The White House has not announced the first lady's guests for this year's event, with the exception of Kate Cox, a woman from Dallas. She traveled outside of Texas to get an abortion because of the procedure's near-total ban in the state. Cox sought an abortion after learning that her fetus had a typically fatal genetic disorder and that carrying the pregnancy to term could compromise her future fertility.

This year's event guests include the parents of Evan Gershkowitz, the Wall Street Journal reporter detained in Russia, as well as the first person born through in vitro fertilization in the United States, and the families of hostages held in the Gaza Strip.

• On the morning of August 20, 2020, during a flight from Tomsk to Moscow, the founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), Alexei Navalny, became ill on the plane. The liner made an emergency landing in Omsk, where Navalny was hospitalized in emergency hospital No. 1, in the toxic intensive care unit. There the politician fell into a coma.
• Ex-FSB officer and opposition politician Gennady Gudkov toldwhy Navalny's associates and other politicians call the version of the involvement of the special services a priority, as well as how and with what the oppositionist could have been poisoned.
• August 21, 2020 Alexei Navalny's wife Yulia signed permission to transport her husband for treatment in Germany. On the morning of August 22, Navalny taken by plane to Berlin... He was still in a coma.
• The clinic where Navalny was taken confirmed the assumptions about his poisoning. Clinical studies spoke of a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors.
• Transportation of an opposition politician to Germany on a special medical plane paid for by Russian businessman Boris Ziminwho now lives in the United States.
• In the United States Department of Commerce сообщилиthat Washington has good reason to believe that the research institutes (SRIs) of the Russian Defense Ministry are involved in the development of chemical and biological weapons.
• September 4, 2020 German laboratory found traces of Novichok in Navalny's skin, blood and urine samples.
• On September 7, 2020, the Charite clinic, where Alexei Navalny was staying, released a new message: politics brought out of an artificial coma and began to gradually disconnect from the ventilator.
• On September 10, 2020, it became known that Navalny completely recovered, memory and speech returned to him.
• On September 15, 2020, the politician for the first time since the poisoning posted a photo on Instagram. The New York Times wrote that he intends to return to Russia.
• On September 23, 2020, the clinic announced that Navalny was discharged... In total, he spent 32 days in a German hospital.
• In November, the US Congress condemned the poisoning of Navalny and called on the United States and the international community to impose sanctions against those involved.
• Mid-December results joint investigation Bellingcat, The Insider and CNN, with the participation of Der Spiegel, revealed that the attempt on the life of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Tomsk was the work of a group of FSB operatives.
• January 18, 2021 cops took Navalny from passport control at Sheremetyevo Airport immediately after his return from Germany, where he was receiving treatment after being poisoned last summer. He was then arrested for 30 days.
• On February 2, the Simonovsky Court of Moscow satisfied the Federal Penitentiary Service's demand and replaced opposition leader Alexei Navalny's suspended sentence in the Yves Rocher case with a real sentence sent to jail... The court found that Navalny had systematically violated the rules of probation.
• On April 3, 2021, Navalny went on a hunger strike because a doctor was not allowed to see him. About how effective such hunger strikes are, read in our material.
• April 19, 2021 Navalny transferred from the colony to the hospital for convicts... On Sunday, April 18, many countries joined an international protest against the conditions of detention and treatment of Navalny, who was in the Pokrovskaya colony, 100 kilometers east of Moscow. In addition, 77 Western writers, directors, actors and journalists, including Svetlana Aleksievich, Jude Law, Stephen Fry, Rafe Fiennes, Vanessa Redgrave, Tom Stoppard and Peter Singer, wrote an open letter to Vladimir Putin.
• The European Parliament awarded the Russian oppositionist Alexey Navalny Prize 'For Freedom of Thought' named after Andrei Sakharov is the main human rights award of the European Union.
• Read Navalny's interview with Time link.
• On March 22, 2022, the Lefortovo Court of Moscow sentenced Alexei Navalny to nine years in prison withstrict regime in the case of fraud and contempt of court.
• And August 5, 2023 The Moscow City Court sentenced Navalny to 19 years of special regime in the case of creating an extremist community and several other charges.
• Navalnymeasures on February 16, 2024 in correctional colony No. 3 in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia. Found on his body bruises and injuries: The official cause of death has not yet been announced.
• Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Alexei Navalny, issueposted a video message. She announced that she would continue the work of her deceased husband.
• On March 1, Alexei Navalny was buried in Moscow: thousands of people came to say goodbye with the politician despite threats and detentions.

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