The supporters of President Volodmyr Zelenskyy, who courageously fights with his country against the Russian invasion, are stunned: There is already heated discussion on Telegram about the Austrian government because the federal government in Vienna has granted refuge to one of the head of state’s most dangerous opponents – namely Oleksandr Tupytksyi and his wife Olga.
After Vladimir Putin, the ex-chairman of the Ukrainian Constitutional Court is Zelenskyi’s biggest opponent: Tupytskyi is said to have torpedoed numerous anti-corruption laws of the new Ukrainian president. And with his actions against Zelensky, he is said to have tried for months to massively weaken the president with a constitutional crisis in Ukraine. No wonder: after all, Tupytskyi was still appointed as supreme judge by the former head of state Viktor Yanukovych, who was loyal to Moscow.
In December of the previous year, just four months ago, the USA then put the chairman of the Constitutional Court, who had been recalled by Zelenskyj, on the sanctions list. The US State Department’s reasoning: “Significant corrupt acts and suspected bribery”.
However, Oleksandr Tupytskyi managed to escape from Ukraine – according to secret service circles, he is said to have hidden in the trunk of a car at the Kosyno border crossing and entered Austria via Hungary. This not unspectacular border crossing process was necessary: Tupytskyi should not have left Ukraine at all.
Now the dangerous opponent of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj is in Vienna: The eXXpress editorial team has tracked down Tupytskyi in the elegant 4-star hotel “Stefanie” on Vienna’s Taborstrasse. His wife Olga is also likely to live with him in this hotel. His stay is denied by the hotel employees – apparently they know very well who has moved into a room here.
With the admission of the Ukrainian ex-constitutional judge Tupytskyi and the hospitality for a declared opponent of the current Ukrainian president, official Austria has a huge credibility problem: On the one hand, the federal government is giving Ukraine fuel and members of the government as well as the federal president are performing at benefit concerts in support of Ukraine. On the other hand, the constitutional judge who wanted to overthrow Volodymyr Zelenskyj is hiding in the middle of Vienna.
“We are never politically neutral when it comes to respect for international law,” emphasized Chancellor Karl Nehammer just three weeks ago. Acting in favor of Tupytskyi, Yanukovych and Vladimir Putin was probably not meant.
How the US State Department will now react to this development will also be exciting: After all, the President of the Ukrainian Constitutional Court, who resides in Vienna’s 4-star Hotel “Stefanie”, is still on the US sanctions list.
The disclosure of Oleksandr Tupytskyi’s explosive whereabouts is also anything but pleasant for Austria’s Directorate for State Security and Intelligence (DSN) and for the Minister of the Interior: If the Austrian intelligence officers and authorities didn’t know anything about it, it would be quite embarrassing. But if they knowingly tolerate the stay of Selenksyj’s opponent in Vienna, that would be a clear partisanship – and a foreign policy problem with domestic political aftermath.
