Zaluzhny Aide's Death: Accident Or Assassination?

The police are treating Chestyakov's
death as an accident.
Internal Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Mariana Reva said a pre-trial investigation was launched into the death of a person as well as under a law entitled“Illegal treatment of ammunition.” There is no news so far of any more pointed investigation of people not present at the scene.

It is now well known that there is a power struggle between Zelensky and his top military commanders, primarily focused on Zaluzhny.
Zaluzhny was criticized this week by Zelensky's
chief of staff
Ihor Zhovkva
for an interview Zaluzhny gave to the Economist Magazine.
Zhokova told Zaluzhny to“keep his mouth shut.”

In the Economist interview Zaluzhny said that the war with Russia was now at a stalemate and, absent the arrival of new technologies (some of which have yet to be invented), Ukraine should be prepared for a long-term freeze in the military situation.

Zaluzhny's comments directly undermined Zelensky's bid for billions more in US assistance.
In addition, Zaluzhny's comments indirectly raised the idea that the future would be painful for Ukraine, hinting that negotiations with Russia may be the only way out.

Meanwhile, three related developments have occurred.
Senior Polish General Waldemar Skrzypczak directly accused Zaluzhny of“sabotage.”
In an interview in Poland he said,“I would strip Zaluzhny of his position for mistakes in command. If he is responsible for this failed counteroffensive, I would regard this as sabotage, not a mistake. If my commander attacks the enemy where he is the strongest, this is a crime.”
He accused Zaluzhny
of sowing panic in NATO.

Skrzypczak saw Zaluzhny's comments as a“cry for help” but concluded that it was too late and that the war was lost.

​Skrzypczak's
comments about the war's end are damaging to Zelensky and reinforce the Zelensky government's view that Zaluzhny has caused irreparable harm.

The second development came from Alexey Arestovich. The Russian-speaking Arestovich, a former advisor to Zelensky's presidential office, is now a self-exile. He has accused Zelensky of“dehumanizing” the Russians – which Arestovich believes (I agree) has only strengthened Russia's patriotic appeals about the Ukraine war, making the Russians more willing to fight the Ukrainians.

Arestovich says he will run for President should Zelensky permit a presidential election. For the moment, though, he appears to be a man without a country regardless of which side wins the war. In early October Russia's Interior Ministry added Arestovich to its wanted list on unspecified charges a day after Arestovich participated in a forum for self-exiled Russian opposition activists and politicians in Estonia.

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Zelensky's campaign against Russian speakers and the Russian Orthodox Church continues.
This week the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) has designated
Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church , as a suspect in a criminal case related to his alleged active support of Moscow's military operation against Kiev.

Zelensky said on November 6th that there would be
no parliamentary election s this year because elections can't be held under martial law.
He signed a 90-day extension of Ukraine's martial law edict – after it was passed by the Ukrainian parliament, which is a rubber stamp for Zelensky.

While Zelensky has yet to talk about Presidential elections, as long as the war continues it is all but certain there won't be any.
Zelensky's actions undermine the claim of his NATO supporters that Ukraine is a democratic country.

There is a good circumstantial case to be made that the death of Major Chestyakov may have been a political assassination intended to send a message to Zaluzhny that he could be next.

Stephen Bryen, who served as staff director of the Near East Subcommittee of the
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee
and as a deputy undersecretary of defense
for policy, currently is a senior fellow at the
Center for Security Policy
and the
Yorktown Institute.

This article was originally published on his Substack, Weapons and Strategy. Asia Times is republishing it with permission.

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