Deputy Zatulin May Be Punished for Speaking Out About the War in Ukraine

State Duma Deputy Konstantin Zatulin may be deprived of a number of Duma posts and expelled from the United Russia faction for his statements about the war in Ukraine, in which he doubted the achievement of the goals of the so-called special military operation. Vedomosti writes about this , citing sources.

It is alleged that after the statements made on June 1, consultations began in United Russia. Among the discussed options for action is the deprivation of Zatulin of the post of first deputy chairman of the State Duma committee and expulsion from the ranks of the faction. Zatulin is not in danger of losing his mandate, he is not a member of United Russia and was elected in a single-mandate constituency.

Zatulin made statements that were widely distributed on social networks and telegram channels, at the forum “What kind of Ukraine do we need?”. Among other things, he noted that none of the four goals of the so-called special operation – the full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched on February 24, 2022 – has been achieved. “What were our goals officially declared at the beginning of the military operation? Do you all remember – denazification, demilitarization, the neutrality of Ukraine and the protection of the inhabitants of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics … On which of these points have we achieved results to date? None Moreover, some of them have ceased to have any meaning,” the deputy said, in particular.

In his opinion, in particular, the demand for the neutrality of Ukraine, which cannot be achieved if the Ukrainian state continues to exist, has ceased to have any meaning. And it, Zatulin is sure, will remain, because “there is not enough strength to overcome it, with the support that they receive.”

According to Zatulin, the plan that the Russian authorities had at the beginning of the war obviously failed. In his opinion, the plan was that “quite quickly after our forceful action, the Ukrainian state is falling apart, and without much sacrifice it is possible to achieve what has not been achieved for eight years, while trying to implement the Minsk agreements.” “I don’t want to settle scores now with the people who formulated it in this way, but in any case it is obvious to everyone that it did not take place,” Zatulin said.

Zatulin also noted that Russia is not even able to fulfill its own decision to annex four Ukrainian regions: “We never entered the city of Zaporozhye, but we left the city of Kherson.”

Such opinions are sometimes expressed even by publicists who are generally loyal to the Russian authorities, but they are rarely heard from the lips of current State Duma deputies. Previously, Zatulin has already attracted attention, stating that the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions are disputed territories (Russian law requires them to be called Russian territories. The annexation is not recognized by the international community, and part of these territories is under the control of Ukraine).

Zatulin told Radio Moskva on Monday that he knew nothing about the conflict and suggested that his words could have been taken out of context. At the same time, he confirmed that he had said that the goals of the “SVO” have not been achieved at the moment.

• Konstantin Zatulin – one of the most experienced Russian politicians, was a State Duma deputy of the first convocation. Already in those days, he adhered to nationalist and revisionist views, disputed the territorial affiliation of the Crimea and Sevastopol. Due to foreign policy disagreements with the Russian leadership – then on the issue of Libya – in 2011 he already lost his post as deputy chairman of the State Duma committee, was not elected to the Duma of the sixth convocation, but since 2016 he has been sitting in parliament again.

Source : Радио Свобода