The head of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Leonid Kalashnikov called the first deputy chairman of this committee, Konstantin Zatulin (United Russia), who had previously criticized the goals of the "special operation", an intelligent guy. His words are quoted by the Telegram channel "Rise".
At the same time, Vedomosti reported that United Russia was discussing Zatulin's statement that no results had been achieved on any of the goals in Ukraine. According to the sources of the publication, they want to remove Zatulin from the post of the first deputy chairman of the State Duma committee and expel him from the faction. A source close to the presidential administration said that it is too early to say what measures will be taken.
June 1 Zatulin at the forum "What kind of Ukraine do we need?" said that Russia is in a difficult situation, it is required "to transfer not only industry, but also life to a military footing." He also criticized the goals that were originally announced during the invasion of Ukraine:
“What were our goals officially declared at the beginning of the military operation? You all remember – denazification, demilitarization, the neutrality of Ukraine and the protection of the inhabitants of the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics, who have suffered all this time. On which of these items have we achieved results to date?”
Zatulin himself told Vedomosti that no one from the leadership of the faction had contacted him. He also noted that he did not understand why he could lose his post on the committee.
In his Telegram channel, Zatulin wrote that his words were “pulled out of context.”
“I said that at the moment the goals of the military special operation <…> have not been achieved. For what? Then, to follow up with what needs to be done in order to achieve these goals. I, in my opinion, clearly expressed the idea that for this we all, who are in the same boat, should make every effort.
The head of the committee, Leonid Kalashnikov, noted in a conversation with Rise that it was not the first time they wanted to deprive Zatulin of his post, but this never happened. He also described it as follows:
“He is a very authoritative, intelligent, intelligent guy, he has, like all of us, some shortcomings, but it is not my business to discuss his position. It is the party that decides who to appoint to this or that post. The Committee does not decide."
In 2011, United Russia already deprived Zatulin of the post of first deputy head of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs. Then he said that this decision was not connected with the work in the committee, but with his statements.
The Russian authorities are contradictory in explaining the goals of the war in Ukraine and have already predicted various dates for its end several times. President Vladimir Putin, announcing the start of the "special operation", said that it was needed for the "demilitarization and denazification" of Ukraine. Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, argued that the war had two goals: to protect the inhabitants of the “LPR”, as well as the destruction of the “militarist machine” and “denazification” of these regions, so that “there would be no nationalists who promote an absolutely anti-Russian, Russophobic course and trying to push Russia and Ukraine together.”
In June 2022, Dmitry Polyansky, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, also voiced his version of the “goals” of the war: he said that the “special operation” in Ukraine would not end until “Ukraine’s shelling of Donbass stops.” Later, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov admitted that the "geographical tasks" of the "special operation" had changed, according to him, this was due to the supply of Western weapons to Ukraine. Now the tasks include not only the "DPR" and "LPR", Lavrov said, in fact recognizing plans to occupy the Ukrainian regions.
“Now the geography is different. This is far from being only the DPR and LPR, it is also the Kherson region, the Zaporozhye region and a number of other territories, and this process continues, and continues consistently and persistently.”