Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko are said to be on a death list from Russian President Vladimir Putin as the faces of the resistance in Ukraine. According to an expert, the situation for former world boxing champions and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could actually become life-threatening.
Zelenskyy himself has said that Russia has declared him “the number one target.” Putin’s anger at the former comedian and actor is intense, as security policy expert Dr. Joachim Weber in the “RTL” interview explained: “For him, President Zelenskyy is obviously an absolute hate figure. Because Zelenskyy saw all the solutions that Putin had to defuse the situation since 2014 (annexation of Crimea, editor’s note), never saw again.”
Putin’s contempt for the Klitschko brothers is just as great. “I think he really hates these people,” said Dr. Joachim Weber.
Are the Klitschko brothers facing a “show trial” in Moscow?
But would Putin really kill her and the Ukrainian president if they were caught by the Russian military?
“I can’t rule out that they will arrest him and take him to Moscow for some show trial. But I’m afraid there would be short work done on the spot – and that would probably be no different with the Klitschko brothers,” Weber continued.
What other countries would think about such a possible atrocity would probably not matter to Putin. In Germany in particular, the Klitschko brothers are extremely popular and have almost iconic status.
An assassination attempt on her “would be another image catastrophe for Russia in the entire German-speaking world, but I’m afraid such subtleties will not bother the Russian leadership and Putin,” said security policy expert Dr. Joachim Weber, to “RTL”.
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