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-Special Representative to inquire into Chrystia Freeland's position on the Board of the World Economic Forum while acting as Canada's Finance Minister.

Russia has attacked "absurd" comments from Emmanuel Macron after he refused to rule out delivering fighter jets to Ukraine, while also warning against the risk of escalation.

Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, said: "Forgive me, but this is absurd.

"Is the president of France really certain that if arms, heavy weapons and aircraft are supplied to the Kyiv regime to conduct combat operations, this will not lead to an escalation of the situation?"

Referring to Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, Ms Zakharova added: "Such statements only increase the already irrepressible appetite of the Zelensky regime."

[...]

Ukraine is expecting to receive up to 140 modern tanks from its Western allies, and Mr Zelensky is now urging the West to send fighter jets and long-range missiles.

On Monday, Joe Biden appeared to draw the line on supplying American fighter jets to Kyiv.

"No," the US president said when asked by reporters at the White House if he was in favour. However, the next day, he said he would talk to Mr Zelensky about his latest requests for advanced weaponry.

In the early months of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv's partners were reluctant to provide too much military aid, eager to avoid a more direct confrontation between the West and Russia.

However, as the war grinds on, they have repeatedly given in to Ukraine's appeals for more substantial weapons.

Last December, Washington finally agreed to send its high-performing Patriot air defence missiles. Last month, it announced it would also be sending Abrams battle tanks.

After pressure from allies, Germany approved sending Leopard tanks to Kyiv and said that it would agree to requests from other European countries who wanted to send their own German-made Leopards.

For one, the resignation of the government amid corruption scandals creates risks of a political split in the Verkhovna Rada. Furthermore, if the government were to resign, Western countries could set strict conditions on coordinating candidates for the new government. This happened in 2014, when US citizen Natalia Yaresko was appointed Finance Minister to Arseniy Yatsenyuk's government, and Lithuanian Aivaras Abromavicius was made Minister of Economic Development and Trade.

All this can shake up the system of power and lead to the President's administration having much less influence over political processes. The current political system is clearly biased towards a single structure: the Office of the President of Ukraine. Following the early parliamentary elections in 2019 and the formation of a majority in the Verkhovna Rada, the entire vertical alignment of power was structured around Zelensky and Yermak, the influence of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine was eliminated, and the information space cleared.

The combat operations in Ukraine merely accelerated these processes. In fact, only three powers can now speak out against the Zelensky-Yermak team — Kiev mayor Vitali Klitschko and his cabinet, the army led by Valery Zaluzhny, and US-controlled structures such as NABU and media affiliated with them. At the same time, decisions regarding resignations are made exclusively by Zelensky and Yermak, who by all means wish to hush up the scandals.