Greece’s Communist Party (KKE) announced Thursday it would not participate in a special parliamentary session on April 7 where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to address lawmakers, saying he is “part of the problem” his invaded country is facing.
“The condemnation of the unacceptable invasion and imperialist war waged by Russia on the territory of Ukraine, and at the same time the solidarity with the people of Ukraine, has nothing to do with any support for President Zelenskyy,” KKE said in a press release.
“And this particular meeting has just such characteristics, as Zelenskyy is part of the problem, head of a reactionary government, which has been aligned with the US-NATO-EU camp, which is also responsible for the war and the suffering of the people of Ukraine.”
The Communists also accuse the Ukrainian leader of violation of workers’ rights, supporting neo-Nazi groups and banning the activities of Ukraine’s Communist Party.
Senior figures in the KKE, including the vice-president of the Greek parliament Giorgos Lambroulis and former MEP Sotris Zarianopoulos, have been blacklisted by Kyiv because of their participation as “observers” in the controversial separatist elections that took place in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
Skipping Zelenskyy’s speech is “the greatest sign of solidarity with the Ukrainian people, who, in order to be truly victorious, must rid itself of both the Russian invasion and the Zelenskyy-type governments that drag them to the slaughterhouse of imperialist rivalries and wars,” they said, adding that the party would have reacted the same way if the guest speaker was Russian President Vladimir Putin or US President Joe Biden.
Zelenskyy was invited by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis earlier this week. The speech, which is expected to last between 10-15 minutes, will start at 12 p.m.