Volodymyr Zelensky’s wife ‘snubbed White House invitation to avoid Alexei Navalny’s widow’

Ukraine’s first lady turned down an invitation to the White House because she did not want to be seen with the widow of Alexei Navalny, according to reports.

US officials had hoped images of Olena Zelenska, the wife of Volodymyr Zelensky, and Yulia Navalnaya would have provided a powerful backdrop to Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday, the Washington Post reported.

But Kyiv reportedly expressed reservations after learning that Ms Navalnaya would be in attendance at the event.

While Mr Navalny, who was found dead in an Arctic prison colony last month, is held up as the poster boy of  domestic opposition to Vladimir Putin by the West, his legacy is seen as tarnished by many Ukrainians.

He has long been criticised for his perceived failure to condemn Moscow’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, which was overwhelmingly supported by Russian voters.

“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,” Alina Polyakova, of the Centre for European Policy Analysis, a Washington-based 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.”

Officially, White House officials said Ms Zelenska had turned down their invitation because of “schedule conflicts”.

Ms Zelenska’s office said: “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.”

In the end, Ms Navalnaya also declined to attend the State of the Union, although according to a US official cited in the Washington Post report, her decision was not communicated to Kyiv.

“Yulia was indeed invited and considered going, but I think everyone forgets the circumstances against which the events unfolded,” said Kira Yarmysh, Ms Navalnaya’s spokeswoman.

“Yulia’s husband died two weeks ago. She’s been travelling all this time. Today is the first day she’s been home at all.

“Like any human being, she needs time to recover, and so while she very much appreciates the invitation, she needs to recover at least a little now.”

It has also been claimed that the Ukrainian government was keen to avoid seeming too close to Mr Biden amid Republican opposition in Congress  to a $60 billion aid package for Kyiv.