‘I despise Zelenskyy’: Ex-Russian lawyer turned Ukrainian citizen speaks out
Viewing the war in Ukraine through Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s lens — through the narrative he presents — is wrong. It is wrong for history. «Zelenskyy is building a dictatorship in my country — in Ukraine,» said Ilya Novikov, a prominent Russian lawyer who became a Ukrainian citizen in 2024, in an interview with journalist Yury Dud.
Criticism of Zelenskyy
«Zelenskyy is a petty, vindictive guy,» Novikov remarked, asserting that the Ukrainian president imposes personal sanctions not only on Russians, such as cat trainer clown (!) Yuri Kuklachev, but also on Ukrainian citizens who criticize him. Furthermore, Novikov claimed that while parliamentary immunity has been abolished in the country, Zelenskyy himself retains this privilege and cannot be prosecuted.
Read also: Zelenskyy says Trump is no automatic ‘guarantee’ of peace.
Novikov’s primary grievance is not simply that Zelenskyy is steering the country toward dictatorship, but that he is leading it toward defeat in the war. According to Novikov, there is no way out of the war as long as Zelenskyy remains in power.
«Zelenskyy means corruption; he means incompetence. And this incompetence kills — it has already killed tens of thousands of people. […] It makes sense to criticize Zelenskyy during the war, not after it ends,» Novikov said.
«I hate and despise Volodymyr Zelenskyy. […] I hate him for the results of his rule, for all the deaths that could have been avoided — deaths that occurred precisely because he governed the country the way he did before and the way he governs now.»
Novikov’s ties to the Ukrainian opposition
Novikov is part of the legal team representing former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, an opposition figure who has clashed with Zelenskyy. Novikov has lived in Kyiv since 2021. In 2022, following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he joined the Kyiv Territorial Defense Forces.
Novikov maintains that he is not part of «Poroshenko’s political machine,» but rather someone who knows the former president well.
