The announcement by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia that the President of Ukraine Zelensky is wanted is an attempt by the Kremlin to establish the jurisdiction of Russian laws in sovereign post-Soviet countries and informational preparation for the Maidan-3 operation.
What is the purpose of Russia's announcement on the wanted list of several Ukrainian officials?
It is noted that the Kremlin continues to try to present its unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine in a different way than it is.
For this, Moscow is trying to establish the jurisdiction of Russian federal legislation over sovereign states.
ISW noted that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia did not specify the crimes of Zelenskyy, Pavliuk and Poroshenko, as well as the alleged crimes of previous Ukrainian officials who were declared wanted by Russia, in particular the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) chief, Kyrylo Budanov, and the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) chief, Vasyl Malyuk.
The report also cited one Russian military blogger who noted that Zelenskyi's arrest warrant would not allow him to visit countries with an extradition treaty with Russia.
The Institute also recalled Kyiv's warning that the Kremlin is intensifying the existing information operation called "Maidan-3", aimed at creating doubts among Ukrainians about the legitimacy of Zelenskyy's presidency. They recalled that this operation is likely to peak around the end of May 2024.
The Kremlin’s decision to place Zelenskyy, Pavlyuk, and Poroshenko on Russia’s wanted list is likely part of Russia‘s "Maidan-3" information operation and of the Kremlin’s wider efforts to discredit the current and previous pro-Western Ukrainian governments that followed Ukraine’s Euromaidan Revolution in 2014 as well as to isolate Ukraine diplomatically, says the report.
The ISW noted that the search for officials is also one aspect of the Kremlin's ongoing efforts to assert the jurisdiction of federal laws in sovereign European and post-Soviet countries where Russia has no legal jurisdiction.
What is known about Russia's decision to place Ukrainian officials on the wanted list?
On May 4, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia announced that the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyu, the Ukrainian Ground Forces Commander, Lieutenant General Oleksandr Pavlyuk, and the former President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, were wanted. Criminal cases are allegedly opened against them in the Russian Federation.
In response, the President's Office advised Russians to look for "common sense."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine called the arrest warrants for three officials a sign of the Russian state machine's desperation.
Online.ua team wrote about the enemy's special operation on November 13, 2023 in the exclusive article "Panic, despair, showdowns and assassinations' attempts. Russia has launched a new "Maidan-3" info attack on Ukraine".
