Merkel speaks to Ukraine’s Zelensky

Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke by telephone on Tuesday with Ukraine’s newly elected president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and invited him to Germany, a German government spokeswoman said.

Zelensky won the election on Sunday and is expected to take office next month.

“The chancellor congratulated him on the electoral success. The result of the democratic elections gives him a strong mandate,” government spokeswoman Ukrike Demmer said in a statement.

“The chancellor emphasised that the (German) government will continue to actively support Ukraine on the path of reform and in its right to sovereignty and territorial integrity,” she added.

Merkel and Zelensky agreed to keep in close contact.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is not planning talks with Ukraine’s newly elected president, Volodymyr Zelensky, Kremlin aide Yuri Uskakov told reporters on Tuesday.

Zelensky won the election on Sunday and is expected to take office next month.

Before Ukraine’s new president Volodymyr Zelensky was even elected, an opposition leader was plotting to curb his powers and make it easier for him to be impeached.

Andriy Sadovyi, head of the Samopomich party, the second largest opposition group in parliament, announced two days before the vote he was garnering support for a parliamentary bill to weaken the presidency.

The opening salvo is a measure of the hostility that may be in store for Zelensky, a 41-year-old comedian who beat incumbent president, Petro Poroshenko, in Sunday’s election despite having no prior political experience or representation in parliament.

Zelensky is expected to take office next month. His ability to work with parliament, known as the Rada, will be crucial to meeting the expectations of his voters and passing reforms to keep foreign aid flowing. Lawmakers from Samopomich and other parties feel the president has too many powers.

“Let him have responsibility like other political players, he cannot stand above the law,” Oksana Syroyid, a Samopomich lawmaker and deputy speaker in parliament told Reuters.

Zelensky’s powers will include appointing the head of the state security service, the head of the military, the general prosecutor, the central bank governor and the foreign and defence ministers.

Agencies