Serhii Nuzhnenko via Reuters
⚡️BREAKING: Pro-Kremlin lawmaker, Putin’s friend Medvedchuk captured.
Zelensky announced that Viktor Medvedchuk, a lawmaker at the pro-Kremlin party opposition platform, has been imprisoned by the security service. Medvedchuk is charged with treason. He escaped house arrest in February. pic.twitter.com/M3SIi65uht
— The Kiev Independent (@KyivIndependent) Apr 12, 2022
Zelensky announced that Viktor Medvedchuk, a lawmaker from the pro-Kremlin party’s opposition platform, had been imprisoned by the security service. Medvedchuk is charged with treason. He escaped house arrest in February.”
Accused of “high treason” and “attempted looting of natural resources in Crimea”
At age 67, he is the founder of the pro-Russian “Opposition Platform-For Life” party, which had about thirty deputies in the Ukrainian parliament before being banned in March after the Russian attack.
On May 3, 2021, Medvedchuk was placed under house arrest.† accused of “high treason” and “attempted looting of natural resources in Crimea”, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014. In October, he was additionally charged with supporting terrorist activities, notes International mail†
On February 26, two days after the start of Russian invasion of Ukrainethe Ukrainian police had noticed his disappearance during a control visit.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on his arrest to Russian news agencies, saying that “a lot of ‘fake’ is coming from Ukraine” and that “this should be checked first”.
“We will have everyone”
“I propose to the Russian Federation to exchange this man for our boys and girls who are currently imprisoned in Russia. That’s why it’s important that our law enforcement and military also consider this possibility,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address to Telegram.
“And may Medvedchuk be an example to you. Not even the former oligarch escaped. without talking criminals much smaller scale in the Russian hinterland. We will have everyone,” added the head of state.
Ukrainian authorities had announced his arrest earlier in the day. “Thanks to the SBU (Ukrainian Security Services, editor’s note) a special operation was carried out. Bravo!” President Zelensky had stated on Telegram, accompanied by a photo of Viktor Medvedchuk, handcuffed and dressed in Ukrainian army uniform (see photo above).
The SBU later confirmed the arrest, without giving any details. SBU chief Ivan Bakanov thanked his subordinates for successfully leading “this exceptional and dangerous mission”.
See also on The HuffPost: War in Ukraine: What state Chernobyl is in after Russia pulls out
