Anyone questioning their duty to the state should be considered a traitor, Dmitry Kuleba has said
FILE PHOTO: Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba © Global Look Press / Pavlo Bahmut
The Ukrainian authorities should jail anyone who dares to speak ill of the state, including on the internet, former Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba told Ukrainian journalist Natalya Mosiychuk in an interview this week. According to the former top diplomat, people who question their duty to the country “drive [him] mad.”
Kuleba was responding to a question about a flurry of accusations and criticism he was facing online over his work as foreign minister. He said he was “cool” about people claiming he fled Ukraine or “was sending people to their deaths with shovels.” But Kuleba said he could not stay calm when someone was calling Ukraine a “rotten state” or a “rotten country.”
“Such people should be caught and thrown [into jail] for high treason,” he said, adding that he could not personally stand people asking questions like “what did this country do for me?” or claiming they did not owe anything to the nation or were not guilty of anything. Those questioning why they “should love” Ukraine should be seen as traitors as well, according to the former minister.
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Kuleba was a staunch advocate of Ukraine’s NATO membership bid during his tenure, and has repeatedly stated that joining the US-led bloc is the only way to secure a peaceful future for the country. In December, he claimed that Ukraine could attack Russia at some point in the future because of “revanchist” sentiments if not accepted into the military bloc.
The former top diplomat stepped down from his position in September 2024 during a large-scale purge of senior officials by Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, and took up a position at a Harvard-based international relations research center.
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Kiev has been facing public criticism over its heavy-handed approach towards mobilization amid the conflict with Russia. Numerous videos have appeared on social media showing Ukrainian conscription officers chasing potential recruits in the streets, brawling with them, and subjecting them to abuse. Some clips also showed Ukrainians resisting the officers or booing them off. Reports of mobilization efforts growing increasingly violent and lawless have appeared not only in local media, but also in the West.
Ukraine has been struggling to replenish its military between mounting losses suffered in the fight against the Russian troops and the mobilization campaign marred by widespread draft dodging, corruption, and desertion.
In January, Kuleba told Ukrainian media that he had talked his 18-year-old son out of joining the army. At the same time, he said that further reduction of the minimal draft age was possible in Ukraine. Kiev’s Western backers have been pushing for the move over the past months. Following a mobilization reform in spring 2024, it was lowered from 27 to 25. Kuleba admitted then that even this move would “not be welcomed by any part of the Ukrainian society.”