Zelenskyy ‘fighting a tyrant who is trying to glue the Soviet Union back together,’ Reagan Foundation says

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Basis & Institute notified Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Monday that he’s the subsequent recipient of the Reagan Freedom Award, as he fights a “tyrant” who’s “making an attempt to connect the Soviet Union again collectively.” 

Zelenskyy will obtain the Reagan Freedom Award for his “indomitable stance for freedom and democracy” as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues for a twelfth day – an award the muse stated it plans to present him “in particular person sometime.”

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In an interview with Fox Information Digital, the muse’s government director John Heubusch stated it shared the information of the award with Zelenskyy by letter, which was delivered by Chairman Fred Ryan throughout a gathering with Ukraine’s Ambassador to the US, Oksana Markarova.

“It’s a very large deal, and never one thing that’s given yearly, however, slightly, at occasions and moments like we’re seeing right here, when a world chief steps ahead with the type of braveness Ronald Reagan would admire, to combat for freedom,” Heubusch informed Fox Information. “And that’s exactly what President Zelenskyy is doing.”

“We glance ahead, after he’s victorious right here in preventing Putin and Russia, to giving him that award in particular person sometime,” Heubusch stated.

The award is taken into account the “highest civilian honor” bestowed by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Basis & Institute, and is given to those that have made “monumental and lasting contributions to the reason for freedom worldwide.”

In Could 1992, President Reagan gave the award to former Normal Secretary and President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev.

President Reagan and Soviet chief Mikhail Gorbachev exterior the villa Fleur D’Eau at Versoix close to Geneva, on Nov. 19, 1985.
(AP)

“How instances have modified, proper?” Heubusch informed Fox Information Digital. “As a result of, Gorbachev, who dismantled the previous Soviet Union, was one of many first world leaders to obtain the award, personally from Ronald Reagan in 1992.

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“Thirty years later, Zelenskyy is preventing a tyrant who’s making an attempt to connect the Soviet Union again collectively,” Heubusch stated. “So what goes round, comes round.”

On June 12, 1987, Reagan challenged Gorbachev to ship on worldwide peace and progressive insurance policies. His problem was heard world wide throughout a speech that marked a turning level within the Chilly Conflict. 

“Normal Secretary Gorbachev, for those who search peace, for those who search prosperity for the Soviet Union and Jap Europe, for those who search liberalization: Come right here, to this gate,” Reagan stated. “Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”

The award has additionally been given to then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Employees, the late Colin Powell; Yitzhak Rabin, former prime minister of Israel; former President of Poland Lech Walesa; Bob Hope, the ambassador of “Goodwill”; former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; and former President George H.W. Bush, amongst others.

One attribute all award recipients have in frequent, Heubusch informed Fox Information, is “a willingness to combat for freedom.” 

“Anybody phrase that individuals affiliate with Reagan is the phrase freedom,” Heubusch informed Fox Information Digital.

Zelenskyy was sworn in because the president of Ukraine on Could 20, 2019, and has grow to be the “face of Ukraine’s resistance towards Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invading forces,” the Reagan Basis stated, including that whereas he was a “political novice with no navy background, President Zelenskyy has earned the respect of Ukraine and people world wide by refusing to flee the capital, urging Ukrainians to withstand, and crafting a profitable communications technique that has gained over European leaders and residents.” 

“I might say, isn’t it fascinating, that President Zelenskyy, a former entertainer, was frowned upon and underestimated? So, too, was a man named Ronald Reagan — a former actor who, some even in his personal celebration, frowned upon. And look how each tales have turned out,” Heubusch stated. 

“Each had been males of unimaginable braveness and had been prepared to do something to combat for freedom — Zelenskyy is proving that now and doing so each single day.”

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In the meantime, Heubusch, on behalf of the Reagan Basis & Institute, stated their “hope is that the U.S. will do the whole lot it conceivably can to help Zelenskyy, and that undoubtedly contains the cessation of any items or companies, together with oil and fuel, from Russia.”

“We additionally imagine that, proper now, we’re in the midst of a little bit ‘too little, too late,’ and our hope is that the Biden administration pours it on, as a result of in the event that they don’t Ukraine may go in the way in which of the previous captive nation.”

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicators utility for the membership of Ukraine within the European Union on Monday Feb 28, 2022 on this picture launched by Parliament of Ukraine. 
(Reuters )

Heubusch additionally warned that “the Chinese language, proper now, are taking copious notes.”

“They’re watching the world’s response to what’s occurring in Ukraine, and that makes it all of the extra essential that Zelenskyy is profitable right here and all of the extra essential that we help him,” Heubusch stated. 

Heubusch informed Fox Information Digital that, in the long run, he believes that Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian folks “are going to be victorious.”

“However it will be a really lengthy battle,” he stated. “And I feel the earlier that we are able to get them the whole lot they want, the nearer we’re to the second the place this all ends.”