Ukrainian forces say they captured the Russian president Vladimir Putin’s close ally, Viktor Medvedchuk, who was facing treason charges and escaped from house arrest in Ukraine in the early days of the war.
Medvedchuk, who led the pro-Kremlin “Opposition Platform — For Life” party in Ukraine, which aimed to alienate the country from the West, was arrested in 2021 on charges of treason and financing of terrorism. He escaped house arrest after Putin declared war on Ukraine on February 24 and has been in hiding ever since. putin is acquaintance being a close personal friend of Medvedchuk and the godfather of his daughter Daria.
The head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Ivan Bakanov, said in a statement on Facebook Tuesday night that the SBU had carried out a “high-speed, dangerous, multi-tiered special operation” to capture Medvedchuk. in a Photo published by the SBU, Medvedchuk is seen wearing a Ukrainian army uniform and appears disheveled and pale.
In his late-night speech on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed Medvedchuk had been captured and said he had been found trying to disguise himself as a soldier. “If Medvedchuk chooses a military uniform for himself, he falls under the rules of war,” Zelenskyy said, offering to trade him for Ukrainians in Russian captivity.
In 2014, the US determined Medvedchuk used his “resources or influence to support or act on behalf of high-ranking Russian government officials,” sanctioning him after the Russian invasion of Crimea. In January this year, the United States again sanctioned Medvedchuk, along with other Kremlin-linked Ukrainian politicians, accusing of participating in a plot to establish a collaborating government in the wake of an impending Russian invasion.
Zelenskyy has overseen the crackdown on Medvedchuk since he was elected president on a pro-Western platform in 2019. In February 2021, the president sanctioned Medvedchuk and ordered three Kremlin-linked TV channels believed to be owned by the oligarch off the air for allegedly promoting anti-Ukrainian propaganda. Medvedchuk was then charged with treason in May 2021 and subsequently placed under house arrest, with Ukraine charging him with selling military secrets to Moscow and exploiting the natural resources of Crimea under Russian occupation. Medvedchuk denied the charges.
In March this year, after the Russian invasion, Zelenskyy canceled Medvedchuk’s partyalong with several others who have ties to Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian state government TASS news agency that had seen the photos of Medvedchuk released by the Ukrainians, but it was too early to say if they were authentic.
Reference-www.politico.eu