Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska rejected a White House invitation to attend Thursday’s State of the Union address, turning down one of the most dignified events in Washington.
According to officials familiar with the plan, first lady Jill Biden was scheduled to sit next to Zelenska and Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died last month in an Arctic prison.
However, Navalny’s potential presence has made Ukrainians uncomfortable, said people familiar with the discussions in Kyiv. Although her late husband is widely recognised as an active Russian opposition figure, Navalny’s legacy in Ukraine is overshadowed by his past statements about Crimea.
Although Navalny’s views later transformed into support for Ukraine’s 1991 borders, many Ukrainians find him incompatible with Kyiv’s goals.
Alina Polyakova, president of the Center for European Policy Analysis, a Washington think tank, said:
While in the West, we have always thought of him as someone who fought bravely and courageously against Putin, in Ukraine, Navalny is seen as in line with a mind-set of Russian nationalism and imperialism. Navalny opposed Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, of course, but in 2014, when Russia first invaded Ukraine, he very much was in line with a general Russian view that saw Crimea as part of Russia’s historical lands.
A White House spokesman said Zelenska’s decision was likely due to “scheduling conflicts” and referred further questions to Zelenska’s office, adding that seating is a detail that is finalised at the end of the process.
Zelenska’s office said on Wednesday that the embassy in Washington had indeed received an invitation for the first lady to attend the state declaration ceremony. It said:
However, due to scheduled events, including a planned visit to Kyiv with children from an orphanage, the First Lady, unfortunately, won’t be able to participate in the event.
Navalnaya also declined to attend Biden’s speech, according to her spokeswoman, who cited fatigue.
