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Russia puts Ukraine's Zelenskyy, NATO officials in its wanted list

Russian media reports Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's inclusion on its wanted list, alongside NATO officials, amidst escalating diplomatic tensions.

AFP

This photograph shows a view of the Kremlin taken on May 18, 2023 through the barbed wire of a municipal technical facility in Moscow. (Photo by Alexander NEMENOV / AFP)

Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media has reported, citing the interior ministry’s database.

As of Saturday afternoon, both Zelenskyy and his predecessor, Petro Poroshenko, featured on the ministry's list of people wanted on unspecified criminal charges.

The commander of Ukraine's ground forces, Gen. Oleksandr Pavlyuk, was also on the list.

Russian authorities did not immediately clarify the allegations against any of the Ukrainian officials.

Mediazona, an independent Russian news outlet, claimed Saturday that both Zelenskyy and Poroshenko had been listed since at least late February.

In an online statement published that same day, Ukraine’s foreign ministry dismissed the reports of Zelenskyy’s inclusion as evidence of “the desperation of the Russian state machine and propaganda.”

Russia's wanted list also includes scores of officials and lawmakers from Ukraine and NATO countries.

Among them is Kaja Kallas, the prime minister of NATO and EU member Estonia, who has fiercely advocated for increased military aid to Kiev and stronger sanctions against Moscow.

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Baltic state officials on the list

Russian officials in February said that Kallas is wanted because of Tallinn’s efforts to remove Soviet-era monuments to Red Army soldiers in the Baltic nation, in a belated purge of what many consider symbols of past oppression.

Fellow NATO members Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have also pulled down monuments that are widely seen as an unwanted legacy of the Soviet occupation of those countries.

Russia has laws criminalising the "rehabilitation of Nazism" that include punishing the “desecration” of war memorials.

Also on Russia’s list are cabinet ministers from Estonia and Lithuania, as well as the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor who last year prepared a warrant for President Vladimir Putin on war crimes charges.

Moscow has also charged the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, with what it deems “terrorist” activities, including Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian infrastructure.