The only Ukrainian-born pol on Metropolis Council shall be given a first-rate talking slot on the New York state Republican conference Tuesday, The Submit has realized.
The GOP additionally blocked a pro-Kremlin Russian-American TV station — NTV — from acquiring media credentials to cowl the conference, which is being held in Backyard Metropolis, LI, celebration officers stated.
The double whammy means Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will take heart stage on the conference, the place Republicans will present help for the under-siege democratic nation.
The regionally elected metropolis councilwoman who was born in Ukraine, Inna Vernikov, informed The Submit on Sunday that her message to convention-goers shall be, “Let Freedom Ring!
“Ukrainians are a freedom-loving individuals,” she stated. “They wish to be free in a democracy. We weren't searching for a battle.”
Vernikov, 37 — who describes herself as a “Ukrainian-born American Jew” — was raised in Chernovitz beneath Soviet rule and got here to New York in 1996, when she was 12.
“It is a very darkish second in our historical past. Vladimir Putin has all the time been a power-hungry tyrant,” Verkinov informed The Submit.
“However he has fully misplaced his thoughts,” stated Vernikov, who represents southern Brooklyn neighborhoods with giant Ukrainian- and Russian-born immigrants, a lot of them Jews.
“Males, girls and kids are dying in a mindless warfare. I feel Putin desires to convey again the Soviet Union,” she stated.
However she stated the Ukrainians won't ever bow to a tyrant after tasting freedom.
“The best way the Ukrainian persons are combating again is inspiring. They’re not going to surrender. They love their homeland. They love democracy, they love freedom,” the councilwoman stated.
She recalled meals rationing rising up beneath Soviet rule as a baby — and stated Ukrainians don’t wish to return to that.
In the meantime, state GOP Chairman Nick Langworthy stated he gained’t enable pro-Putin propaganda to infiltrate the conference, thus the ban on NTV.
“New York Republicans proudly stand with the individuals of Ukraine and won't enable our conference for use as a Putin propaganda instrument,” he stated.
GOP spokeswoman Jessica Proud had pressed the journalists for the title of their outlet once they requested media credentials.
After some backwards and forwards, the journalists lastly admitted that they labored for NTV.
“Please be suggested that NTV’s credentials for this occasion have been denied,” Proud stated within the e-mail thread forwarded to The Submit.
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