Volodymyr Zelensky's Russian years (Paywall)

LeMonde.Fr ^ | February 20, 2023 | Ariane Chemin and Benoît Vitkine (Moscow (Russia) correspondent)

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The five lives of Volodymyr Zelensky'

(2/5). Before his presidency, Zelensky became known in the world of comedy and television at the turn of the millennium and lived in Moscow, where he established links with the country that he is now at war with.

In January, Sochi, the Russian seaside resort on the Black Sea popular with tourists and spa enthusiasts, usually hosted the gala for KVN, a TV game show in which amateur troupes from all the former Soviet republics participated. Strolling along the waterfront palaces in January 1998, the small troupe from eastern Ukraine led by Volodymyr Zelensky believed that they were on the brink of success.

There was no easy path to reach Sochi. In the giant competition's pyramid system, qualifying from among 300 teams was an obstacle course. First, you had to win at your university, then you had to win the city, the oblast and finally the whole country – before facing the formidable Russian teams from Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

The team from Kryvyi Rih State University, comprised of a dozen people, traveled to Sochi by train – more than 1,000 kilometers, nearly 48 hours of travel. Students of law or economics, they left the big mining city where most of them were born without a penny. When they were there, the young men, who were barely 20 years old (like Zelensky and his friend Denys Manzhosov) or 22 (like the Shefir brothers, one of whom is now an advisor to the Ukrainian president, while the other runs the production company later founded by the group) had to share a room at the Zhemchuzhina ("the pearl") hotel. "We ate mivina, freeze-dried noodles, for every meal," said one of the girls in the group, the now actress and TV presenter Olena Kravets. The stay began with a week of rehearsals, during which the candidates were visited by the KVN "editors,"

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Le Monde had a 5 part series of articles detailing the '5 lives of Zelensky'. Most have a paywall but I found the excerpts worth a scan. The top of each article features an old photo of him.

Part 1: A Soviet childhood (no Paywall, but lots of old photos)

Part 2: The Russian years

Part 3: Politics, a fiction that became his reality

Part 4: The actor in a president's suit

Part 5: Volodymyr Zelensky, the resistant in Kyiv

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Zelensky lived and worked in Moscow for years. I'd read that off and on over the past few years. He also was taken under the wing of a Russian oligarch. I find this odd given one of Ukraine's supporters on Free REpublic has been known to say, 'The only good Russian is a dead Russian.'

Wiki says Zelensky never lived in Russia, but then Wiki is controlled by the CIA, according to one of Wiki's original founders.

[Wuli]

BFD

He is not at with Russia. It is Putin that is at war with Ukraine.

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Zelensky is with whomever will pay him and give him access/privilege.

[Wuli]

So say you.