This past Sunday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy participated in a 90-minute Zoom interview conducted by four Russian journalists.
In the interview, Zelenskyy requested a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a neutral location for ultimate mediation to end the war.
It was only a few hours before the Kremlin’s communications regulator and internet censor, Roskomnadzor, reacted by forbidding the Russian media from publishing the interview. Roskomnadzor is the federal service in Russia that monitors communication, information technology, and mass media.
Regardless, media outside Russia published the interview while those in Russia did not.
In the interview, Zelenskyy denounced the invasion of his country and urged Russians to “support the truth.”
As the violent conflict enters its second month, Zelenskyy also suggested he is open to Ukraine essentially giving up its ambitions to join NATO as part of a prospective peace deal with Moscow.
He also mentioned Putin’s disregard for Russian and Ukrainian lives, even those deceased. Russia has been slow to address the bodies of perished Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
According to Zelenskyy, Russia refused to acknowledge the situation until finally requesting that the bodies of his countrymen be returned to Russia.
Zelenskyy also compared Putin’s inhumane treatment of Russian soldiers to the treatment of animals.
“Listen, even when a dog or a cat dies, people don’t do this,” he said.
Roskomnadzor said it had started looking into the sources that did the interview “to establish the amount of blame and the appropriate remedial measures.”
This interview marks the first time since the war began in February that Zelenskyy has spoken with Russian journalists.
The reporters are: Ivan Kolpakov, editor of Meduza, a Russian-language news website based in Latvia; Vladimir Solovyov, a reporter for Kommersant, a Moscow-based daily newspaper; Mikhail Zygar, an independent Russian journalist who fled to Berlin after the war began; and Tikhon Dzyadko, editor of the independent television channel TV Rain.
Earlier this month, Putin signed a law that punishes Russian journalists for reporting on the Ukraine invasion. The accused could face a 15-year prison sentence.
Solovyov did not react to a request for comment as of early Monday in Moscow, and Kommersant had not yet published the interview. It is unclear whether he or his publication would suffer legal repercussions from the interview.
However, the other three of the four journalists work for media outlets located outside of Russia, which published it in text and on YouTube.
The Meduza website is restricted in Russia, but YouTube is still available. (With Facebook and Instagram blocked earlier this month, many analysts anticipate it will not be for long.)
