Kremlin warns Ukraine against becoming too close to U.S. after Biden visit

In the Kremlin’s first response to President Biden’s surprise visit to Ukraine on Monday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that President Volodomyr Zelenskyy’s fate could mirror those of past leaders who aligned themselves too closely with Washington.

“Looking at today’s footage of Biden with his war Zelensky from Kyiv, do not forget the fate of all previous American projects,” the Russian diplomat wrote on her Telegram social media page.

Ms. Zakharova cited the example of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, the pro-Western leader who sought membership in NATO and the European Union and was in power in 2008 when Russian forces invaded in support of separatist movements in the country. Today, the former president is currently serving a prison sentence in Georgia after being convicted of abuse of power and assaulting a rival political figure.

Ms. Zakharova said Mr. Saakashvili is “paying a steep price to be remembered in the West,” according to TASS, the official Russian news agency.

Ms. Zakharova also cited the case of U.S.-backed Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, recently ousted as head of the movement that has unsuccessfully pressed to oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

“This is what awaits all those who have sold their souls to the Americans: damned by their own people, needed by no one, forced to spend lavishly the money earned in America from betraying their countries on American lawyers,” she wrote, according to TASS.