No End to Russian Meddling Without Regime Change, Zelensky Says

President Volodymyr Zelensky has advocated for regime change in Russia on Thursday during a virtual event with Finland. 

Zelensky argued that Russia will keep destabilizing neighboring countries even after the war in Ukraine ends – making regime change in Moscow the only lasting solution.

“But if the world doesn’t aim to change the regime in Russia, that means even after the war ends, Moscow will still try to destabilise neighbouring countries,” Zelensky said as he addressed a conference marking 50 years since the signing of the Cold War-era Helsinki Accords, as reported by AFP. 

Zelensky also argued that since Moscow started the invasion of Ukraine, it should be coerced into ending it.

“I believe Russia can be pushed to stop this war. It started it, and it can be made to end it,” Zelensky said.

Zelensky’s comments came after multiple rounds of direct talks took place between Kyiv and Moscow this year without resulting in a ceasefire. 

The Ukrainian president said that one of the ways to coerce Russia into stopping the invasion is to confiscate its frozen assets in the West instead of just holding onto them. 

“We need to fully block Russia’s war machine ... put every frozen Russian asset, including the stolen wealth of corruption to work defending against Russian aggression,” Zelensky said.

“It’s time to confiscate Russian assets, not just freeze them. Confiscate them and use them to serve peace, not war,” he added.

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While the West has been using the proceeds of more than $300 billion of frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine’s defense and recovery efforts, full confiscation remains a taboo subject. 

In March, a French official argued the move could “pose a risk to European financial stability.” 

“Under European law, there is no reason to seize [Russian assets]... if there were a seizure without legal grounds, it could pose a risk to European financial stability,” French Minister of Economics and Finance Eric Lombard said at the time.

Zelensky made the remarks on Thursday, shortly after one of the heaviest drone and missile attacks on Kyiv overnight left 11 dead and over a hundred injured – one of the highest casualty tolls in the capital since the 2022 invasion began.