President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on Ukrainian citizens to avoid engaging in any activity connected with the upcoming U.S. presidential elections in November. His statement comes just a day after U.S. Intelligence accused a Ukrainian lawmaker of attempting to interfere in the vote and suggested that his actions worked in the interests of Russia.
In an Aug. 8 post on his official Facebook page, Zelensky said that “under no circumstances should it be acceptable to interfere in another country’s sovereign elections.”
“I assure our partners once again that Ukraine has not allowed and will not allow itself to interfere in elections in the future and thereby damage our trusting and sincere partnership with the United States,” he continued.
Zelensky said that this was both his personal principle and that of Ukraine as a nation. He also emphasized that “preventing our country from becoming involved in the domestic politics of the United States is a matter of our national security.”
“Therefore, I believe that citizens of Ukraine should, to put it mildly, refrain from any activity related to the presidential election in the United States and not allow themselves to try to solve any of their own political or business problems this way,” he said. “Ukraine’s reputation is worth much more than the reputation of any of our politicians. So let’s not trade Ukraine for situational benefits…”
Zelensky’s comment came after William Evanina, director of the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said in a statement that the intelligence community was concerned about Russia interfering in the 2020 elections.
As an example of such interference, he stated that “pro-Russia Ukrainian parliamentarian Andriy Derkach is spreading claims about corruption – including through publicizing leaked phone calls – to undermine former Vice President (Joseph) Biden’s candidacy and the Democratic Party.”
Read More: US Intelligence says Russia using Ukrainian MP Derkach to interfere in 2020 election
A long-time lawmaker in Ukraine’s parliament who previously represented the defunct pro-Russian Party of Regions, Derkach is one of several Ukrainian politicians who has actively supported conspiracy theories accusing former U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden — incumbent President Donald Trump’s Democratic challenger in the upcoming vote — of interfering in Ukraine’s domestic policies for personal gain.
These claims have found support among conservative commentators in the United States and even Trump’s close associates, despite being repeatedly debunked by Ukrainian journalists and anti-corruption activists.
Read More: 3 Ukrainian lawmakers doing Trump’s dirty work in scandal
In a now infamous phone call in July 2019, Trump raised some of these allegations with Zelensky and asked him to investigate Biden. Later, the U.S. president froze nearly $400 million in defense aid for Ukraine in an apparent effort to pressure Zelensky to open investigations into Biden and unfounded claims that the Ukrainian government had interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election against Trump.
That alleged attempt to extort politically motivated investigations from Ukraine led the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives to impeach Trump. The Senate, where Republicans hold the majority, later acquitted the president.
The defense aid for Ukraine was eventually unfrozen.
However, with new presidential elections rapidly approaching in the United States, some Ukrainian political actors have attempted to revive the allegations against Biden.
In May, Derkach held a press conference to release what he claimed were recordings of phone calls between Biden and then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The Ukrainian lawmaker said that the phone calls — which sounded genuine — proved corruption on the part of Biden. In reality, however, they revealed nothing fundamentally new and did not significantly advance any of Derkach’s claims.
Since then, Derkach has released several more recordings.
Read More: Ukrainian MP releases Biden-Poroshenko call recordings, spouts absurd conspiracy theory
Meanwhile, in Washington, Republican Senator Ron Johnson, a Trump ally, has said he is investigating a possible conflict of interest in Biden’s actions in Ukraine.
According to the Washington Post, his committee has collected documents and interviewed witnesses. Johnson is planning to release a report with his conclusions in September, a few months before the presidential election.
Democrats have warned Republicans that, by investigating the accusations against Biden, they risk laundering disinformation from Russia.
