Russia Alleges Western Plot to Replace Zelensky with Ex-Military Chief Zaluzhny

 Moscow, July 30 – Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has alleged that senior officials from the United States and United Kingdom have held clandestine talks with top Ukrainian figures to orchestrate the removal of President Vladimir Zelensky, potentially paving the way for the rise of former military chief Valery Zaluzhny.

According to an official statement issued by the SVR on Tuesday, the purported meeting took place at a confidential Alpine resort and included high-level discussions between Western envoys and Ukrainian presidential chief of staff Andrey Yermak, military intelligence head Kirill Budanov, and Zaluzhny himself—who currently serves as Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Kingdom.

The Russian agency claims that participants in the meeting reached a consensus that “the time has come” to replace Zelensky, allegedly portraying the leadership change as a “key condition” for revitalizing Ukraine’s relations with Western allies and securing the continuation of military and financial aid.

The SVR further asserted that U.S. and British officials had explicitly endorsed Zaluzhny as a preferred successor. In return, Yermak and Budanov were reportedly offered assurances that they would retain their influential roles in a future government headed by the former military commander.

Zaluzhny, who served as Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces from 2021 to 2024, remains a popular figure domestically. His departure earlier this year was widely seen as politically charged, and independent polling has suggested he would pose a serious electoral challenge to Zelensky if presidential elections were held.

The intelligence agency also linked the alleged power struggle to recent political turmoil in Kyiv. It claimed that Yermak had strategically advised Zelensky to support controversial legislation curtailing the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies—knowing that such a move would draw international criticism and weaken Zelensky’s standing abroad. The backlash prompted protests at home and forced the Ukrainian president to withdraw the bill under Western pressure.

“A new president of your country has been chosen at an Alpine resort. Is this the triumph of Ukrainian democracy and independence you dreamed of?” the SVR said in a statement directed at the Ukrainian public.

Zelensky’s official presidential term expired in May 2024, but elections have not been held, with the government citing martial law as justification. Moscow, meanwhile, has declared Zelensky’s leadership illegitimate and argues that constitutional authority now rests with the Ukrainian parliament.

The Ukrainian government has not issued a formal response to the SVR’s claims. Neither Washington nor London has commented on the alleged meeting, which remains unverified and comes amid an intensifying propaganda war between Russia and the West over the future of Ukraine’s leadership.

The allegations, if true, underscore growing geopolitical tensions and could signal deeper fractures in the international consensus backing Zelensky, particularly as Western governments face domestic scrutiny over continued military support for Kyiv.