Amid the raging war against neighbouring Russia, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ordered to suspend activities of 11 political parties having links with Russia.
Among the suspended parties, the largest on is the Opposition Platform for Life, which has 44 out of 450 seats in the country’s parliament. The OPL is led by Viktor Medvedchuk, who happens to have close ties with Russian premier Vladimir Putin, who is also the godfather to Medvedchuk’s daughter.
Nashi Ours party led by Yevheniy Murayev is also on the list of suspended parties. The British authorities, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, had had warned that Russia wanted to install Murayev as the leader of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy, addressing the people of Ukraine on early Sunday through a video message, said that given a largescale war unleashed by the Russian Federation and links between it and some political structures, the activities of a number of political parties is suspended for the period of the martial law.
The Ukrainian President also added that activities by politicians aimed at discord and collaboration will not succeed.
The announcement by Zelenskyy was followed by introduction of the martial law that envisages a ban on parties associated with Russia.
On the other hand, the Ukrainian Premier spoke at length about the fall of port city of Mariupol. The siege of Mariupol would go down in history for what he said were war crimes committed by Russian troops.
“To do this to a peaceful city what the occupiers did is a terror that will be remembered for centuries to come,” Zelenskyy added.
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