Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered the fifth president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, political asylum in Russia due to his suspicion of treason. He said this at a press conference after talks with French President Emanuel Macron.
Putin recalled that he had previously told Poroshenko: if he has any problems in the future, Russia is ready to grant him political asylum. Now, Putin said, he is ready to confirm his offers, despite "serious disagreements" over the resolution of the conflict in Donbas.
"And I believe that Poroshenko has made many mistakes on this issue [the settlement in Donbass]. But still, his prosecution as a state criminal is also a futile hope of success with the current government. We are ready to give asylum to people like Mr. Poroshenko in Russia. Putin said, probably ironically.
He added that he had anticipated this development about the "political persecution of Poroshenko by his successor" .
Petro Poroshenko responded by advising Putin to realize that "we will sort it out ourselves here in Ukraine." According to him, the "eternal" Russian practice of "taking care" of Ukrainian politics stopped when he became the fifth president of Ukraine.
Poroshenko also advised the current president, Vladimir Zelensky, to "stop pleasing Putin and get busy defending the country. In his opinion, law enforcement agencies are now "more concerned with Poroshenko" than they are with the Russian threat.
"Our team has repeatedly stated that by going after the pro-European opposition in Ukraine, Zelensky, above all, wants to make a gift to Putin. Now this has already been confirmed by Putin himself." ," Poroshenko wrote on Facebook.
