Viktor Medvedchuk

Analysis: Putin's ally was Russia's 'main guy in Ukraine' but Kremlin has refused prisoner exchange.

“As for the [prisoner] exchange numerous actors in Kyiv have been talking about with so much passion, ardour and pleasure, Medvedchuk is not a Russian citizen and bears no relation to the special military operation. “[Medvedchuk] was the legitimate way they could see their future influence [in Ukraine] … his ‘persecution’ is when this all began.” “I propose to Russia to exchange this man of yours for our boys and our girls who are now in Russian captivity,” Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, said in a video address on Telegram.

Volodymyr Zelensky first announced the news of the arrest of Viktor Medvedchuk, who is seen as Putin's closest ally in Ukraine, in a Telegram post on ...

Shackles are waiting for you and same goes for traitors to Ukraine like you." Medvedchuk is known as the "Grey Cardinal," due to his low profile hiding a wide influence over pro-Russian forces in Ukraine for two decades. "A special operation was carried out by the security service of Ukraine. Well done!"

Viktor Medvedchuk, a fugitive who was the most prominent representative of pro-Russian political factions in Ukraine and a friend of Russian President ...

- Medvedchuk served as chief of staff of Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma from 2002-2005. He escaped a few days after the Russian invasion began in February. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Vinnytsia, Ukraine – Last May, 67-year-old Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian politician close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was charged with treason in ...

The party also paid for stories in other outlets, a media monitor claimed in 2018. Pro-Moscow and pro-Western political forces had polarised the ex-Soviet nation of 43 million, where a third of the population still speaks Russian at home. Medvedchuk’s party resisted Ukraine’s “de-communisation” efforts to remove Soviet-era monuments and symbols, and opposed the “language law” that curbed the use of Russian in mass media and public life. In the early 2000s, he headed the administration of Leonid Kuchma, a pro-Russia president – and developed the image of a taciturn “grey cardinal”. The post included a photo of the handcuffed Medvedchuk, looking pallid and dishevelled in a badly fitting military uniform; in the past, he was often seen in bespoke suits and with a smile on his face. He was placed under house arrest and Putin immediately accused Kyiv of “purging the political field of all the forces that stand for a peaceful resolution” of the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the apparent capture of Viktor Medvedchuk, a pro-Kremlin politician in Ukraine. Medvedchuk had been under ...

"You can be a pro-Russian politician and work for the aggressor state for years. And hiding places, wherever we find you!" Glory to Ukraine!" Zelenskyy said.

Ukrainian authorities have recaptured Putin ally Viktor Medvedchuk months after he escaped house arrest in the early days of the Russian invasion.

He escaped in February. Glory to Ukraine!” Medvedchuk — who claims that the Russian president is the godfather to his daughter — was placed under house arrest in Ukraine on treason charges last year.

The millionaire tycoon and politican has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. If Russia had taken Kyiv, many experts believe Medvedchuk would've been ...

Shackles are waiting for you and same goes for traitors to Ukraine like you," the post said. You can even wear a Ukrainian military uniform for camouflage," the security services said in a post. "You can be a pro-Russian politician and work for the aggressor state for years. Three months later, prosecutors accused Medvedchuk and a fellow opposition lawmaker of high treason and placed Medvedchuk under house arrest. "Putin thinks we are one nation, but I think it's not one nation, but two Slavic nations, with intertwined histories, religion," Medvedchuk told the outlet of Ukraine and Russia. "I tell him this all the time. "I know I'm the only one who can do it," he told the outlet in 2018.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Security Service of Ukraine released images Tuesday of Ukrainian politician and oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk in ...

As of last year, Medvedchuk owned three Ukrainian television stations that Zelensky blocked as part of his attempt to freeze the oligarch’s assets in February 2021, claiming the channels were spreading propaganda. Zelensky’s spokesperson Iuliia Mendel said Ukraine blocked the channels because they were being used as “one of the instruments of war against Ukraine,” and claimed the stations were financed by Russia, according to ABC News. It is unclear whether Medvedchuk still owns the stations. Medvedchuk was initially placed on house arrest in May 2021 after Ukraine accused him of treason.

The oligarch Ukrainian politician with close ties to the Kremlin was facing treason charges when he escaped house arrest days after Russia's invasion.

Medvedchuk was then charged with treason in May 2021 and subsequently placed under house arrest, with Ukraine accusing him ofselling military secrets to Moscow and exploiting Crimea’s natural resources under the Russian occupation.Medvedchuk denied the charges. “If Medvedchuk chose a military uniform for himself, he falls under the rules of war,”Zelenskyy said, offering to exchange him for Ukrainians in Russian captivity. Ukrainian forces say they’ve captured Russian PresidentVladimir Putin’s close ally Viktor Medvedchuk, who was facing treason charges and escaped 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 steer the country away from the West, was arrested in 2021 on charges of treason and financing terrorism.

Russia has reacted to Medvedchuk's arrest, asking Ukraine to 'watch out'. Why did Ukraine act against the businessman-politician? We explain.

“I would not say that we are very close but we know each other well,” he said, according to the BBC. Putin and Medvedchuk even brokered a deal to deliver millions of doses of the vaccine to Ukraine, but it was later rejected by the Ukrainian government. They are also known to holiday together on the Black Sea, a Time magazine report stated. In a late night address on Tuesday, Zelenskyy offered to exchange Medvedchuk for the Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russian captivity. In May 2021, he was charged with treason and placed under house arrest, which he escaped after the Russian invasion. Notably, Medvedchuk and his family were among the first to receive doses of the Russian Covid-19 vaccine in August 2020, Time reported.

Viktor Medvedchuk had escaped house arrest on treason charges days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

He denied wrongdoing and was under house arrest before fleeing during the first days of the invasion. “You can hide from justice. In January, the US put Medvedchuk and three other Moscow-backed Ukrainian politicians under sanctions, accusing them of involvement in a plot to set up a collaborator government in the wake of the Russian invasion.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last night posted an image of a “dishevelled” Viktor Medvedchuk, a Kremlin-linked oligarch known as the “Grey Cardinal”, wearing “ ...

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