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Olena Zelenska, Ukraine’s first lady, declined an invitation from the White House to attend Thursday’s State of the Union address, forgoing one of Washington’s most dignified events and underscoring the complicated politics facing her war-torn country, The Washington Post reports.

The intent had been to seat first lady Jill Biden near Zelenska and Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died last month in an Arctic prison, according to officials familiar with the planning. The image of both women, each a symbol of resistance to Russian President Vladimir Putin, would offer a powerful backdrop to President Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress.

But Navalnaya’s potential presence caused discomfort for the Ukrainians, said people familiar with Kyiv’s deliberations. Though her late husband is widely hailed as an anticorruption icon who risked his life to oppose Putin, Navalny’s legacy in Ukraine is clouded by past statements that Crimea, which Putin annexed in 2014, belonged to Russia.

Even though Navalny’s views later evolved into support for Ukraine’s internationally recognized 1991 borders, many Ukrainians view him as out of step with Kyiv’s goals.

“While in the West, we have always thought of him as someone who fought bravely and courageously against Putin, in Ukraine, Navalny is seen as in line with a mind-set of Russian nationalism and imperialism,” said Alina Polyakova, president of the Center for European Policy Analysis, a Washington think tank.

“Navalny opposed Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, of course, but in 2014, when Russia first invaded Ukraine, he very much was in line with a general Russian view that saw Crimea as part of Russia’s historical lands,” Polyakova said.

A White House official said Zelenska’s decision was probably due to “schedule conflicts,” and referred further questions to Zelenska’s office, adding that the seating arrangement is a detail finalized near the end of the process.

Zelenska’s office said Wednesday that the embassy in Washington did receive an invitation for the first lady to attend the State of the Union address.

“However, due to scheduled events, including a planned visit to Kyiv with children from an orphanage, the First Lady, unfortunately, won’t be able to participate in the event,” it said.

Navalnaya also declined to attend Biden’s address, according her spokeswoman, who cited fatigue as a factor.

“Yulia was indeed invited and considered going, but I think everyone forgets the circumstances against which the events unfolded,” said Navalnaya spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh. “Yulia’s husband died two weeks ago. She’s been traveling all this time. Today is the first day she’s been home at all. Like any human being, she needs time to recover, and so while she very much appreciates the invitation, she needs to recover at least a little now.”