Ukraine’s safety service mentioned on Saturday it had prevented former president Petro Poroshenko from leaving the nation on grounds that Russia deliberate to use a deliberate assembly with Hungary’s prime minister to harm Ukrainian pursuits.

Poroshenko’s political social gathering, European Solidarity, mentioned the previous president had scheduled solely conferences in Poland and the United States and warned the SBU safety service towards turning into concerned in politics.

Poroshenko was turned away at a border put up on Friday.

The SBU mentioned he had deliberate to satisfy Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who maintains ties with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin and opposes opening talks on European Union membership with Ukraine.

An SBU assertion mentioned Russia was making ready a sequence of “provocations” to discredit Ukraine amongst its overseas allies because the war against Russia stretches past 21 months.

It supplied no proof to assist the allegations.

Of the doable assembly with Orban, the SBU mentioned: “Russia planned to use this meeting (like other ‘working meetings with … representative of countries voicing pro-Russian narratives) in psychological operations against Ukraine.”

The SBU mentioned Orban “systematically holds an anti-Ukrainian position”, was a “friend of Putin” and sought the removing of sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

Orban, who’s open about his pleasant ties with Putin, opposes the beginning of EU membership talks with Ukraine, to be thought-about on the bloc’s forthcoming summit. He known as this week for the creation as an alternative of a “strategic partnership” with Kyiv.

Orban has regularly been at odds with Zelenskiy on a number of points associated to Ukraine’s EU membership bid. European Solidarity, in its assertion, known as for dialogue with Orban who, it mentioned, had a veto proper over accession talks.

Under martial legislation, Ukrainian officers should safe approval to journey overseas. Parliament’s deputy speaker, Oleksandr Korniyenko, mentioned Poroshenko’s permission had been cancelled after he had obtained a letter, which he couldn’t touch upon.

Zelenskiy’s workplace has made no remark and Orban’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Poroshenko, president from 2014 to 2019, accused Zelenskiy’s administration on Friday of cancelling the permission and enjoying politics forward of elections.

The dispute comes amid slowly rising tensions between authorities and opposition – largely over inner issues corresponding to budgets and appointments – in distinction to the near-total unity at the beginning of the battle.

Zelenskiy and Poroshenko fought a bitter, typically deeply private battle within the 2019 presidential election, when Zelenskiy defeated the incumbent Poroshenko in a landslide.

Zelenskiy mentioned final month that it was “not the time” to carry a presidential election, which below regular circumstances could be scheduled for March 2024 however is prohibited below martial legislation.