Focus collected key facts about criminal proceedings, escape from house arrest and the capture of a pro-Russian politician.
On Tuesday, April 12, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky announced on his social networks that the Security Service of Ukraine had detained People's Deputy Viktor Medvedchuk, who is suspected of high treason and escaped from house arrest after the start of a full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation. We have collected the main facts about the policy, the criminal cases initiated against him and the operation of the security forces to search for him on the territory of Ukraine.Viktor Medvedchuk is the co-chairman of the pro-Russian political force «Opposition Platform — For Life», whose activities during the martial law were suspended by the decision of the National Security and Defense Council. In May last year, the politician took 12th place in the list of the richest people in Ukraine according to Forbes magazine — journalists estimated his fortune at $620 million.
In February 2021, the National Security and Defense Council closed TV channels associated with Medvedchuk — «112 Ukraine», Newsone and ZIK — and also imposed financial sanctions on him and his wife, former TV presenter Oksana Marchenko « ;L/DNR» by supplying terrorists with oil products.
Medvedchuk spoke with a pro-Russian position, arguing that the Russian Federation, despite the occupation of Crimea and the invasion of Donbass, is not an aggressor.
One of the daughters of the people's deputy, Darina, is the goddaughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin and already ex-first lady Svetlana Medvedeva, Dmitry Medvedev's ex-wife. Thus, Medvedchuk is the godfather of the head of the aggressor state.
According to media reports, Medvedchuk and Putin maintain fairly close personal contacts. In particular, one of the leaders of the Opposition Platform for Life flew to the occupied Crimea at the same time that Russian President Putin was there, and also flew directly to Moscow, despite the Ukrainian government’s ban on air travel between the Russian Federation and Ukraine.
What Medvedchuk is accused of
On May 11 last year, Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova reported that People's Deputy from the Opposition Platform for Life Viktar Medvedchuk and his colleague in the parliamentary faction Taras Kozak were informed of suspicion of high treason and an attempt to plunder national resources in Russian-occupied Crimea.
According to investigators, in 2015, Medvedchuk and Kozak handed over to the Russian Federation the entire material and documentary base of the «Glubokoye» mineral deposit, which at that time contained minerals worth 38 billion hryvnias. Law enforcement officers also claim that Medvedchuk, in order to pay taxes to the budget of the occupied Crimea, re-registered his business there, and also, with the help of Ukrainians who were working in the Russian Federation, planned to form a network of agents to carry out subversive activities in Ukraine.
May 13, the court chose a preventive policy in the form of house arrest. In November, the court decided to change the preventive measure to a personal obligation.
Nevertheless, before that, on October 8, Medvedchuk was informed about the suspicion of illegal organization of schemes for the purchase of coal by Ukraine from ORDLO and undermining the country's energy security. As a result of the politician's actions, according to the investigation, the terrorists «DNR» and «LNR» were financed by UAH 200 million.
«With the mediation of Medvedchuk, an agreement was made with the highest officials of Ukraine, who, using the powers of the National Bank and law enforcement agencies, created artificial obstacles to the supply of coal from South Africa. In the end, the contracts were broken, which provoked a wave of «fan» power outages in our country», the SBU said.
In this case, in which Medvedchuk was accused of treason and assistance to terrorist activities, the court placed the MP under house arrest.
Also in «coal business» passes and the fifth President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. The investigation claims that the leader of the «European Solidarity» party, being the head of state and in cooperation with Medvedchuk, was involved in the illegal supply of fuel from the temporarily occupied territories.
How Medvedchuk escaped from house arrest
On February 21, journalists «Slidstvo.info» reported that near Medvedchuk's house, an active movement of cars was noticed, taking out the personal belongings of the politician. Three days later, Russian troops launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and on February 27, Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, announced that the MP had escaped from house arrest. At the same time, he said that a certain «judge» decided to remove the electronic bracelet, which persons under house arrest are required to wear, from Medvedchuk.
Since then, there has been no official information about the corresponding decision of any Ukrainian court. At the same time, Medvedchuk's lawyer Larisa Cherednichenko, in a comment to «Suspіlny» said that he «is in a safe place in Kyiv», and on the first day of a full-scale war, the head of the people’s deputy’s personal bodyguard allegedly warned the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Security Service of Ukraine «about the threats that he received from radical nationalist groups».
Six days before the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, on February 18, the wife of the politician Oksana Marchenko left Ukraine across the border with Belarus. Later, she published a video of a conversation with Russian artist Nikolai Baskov, recorded in Moscow.
How Medvedchuk was found
The SBU, commenting on the detention of the politician, reported that Medvedchuk used the uniform of the Ukrainian military for disguise, and the special operation to detain him, carried out on behalf of the head of state, was «lightning», «dangerous» and multilevel. Where exactly they found the people’s deputy, and how he managed to hide from law enforcement officers for more than a month, the department did not disclose.
In turn, Aleksey Arestovich, adviser to the head of the President’s Office, shared that Medvedchuk was not found in Kyiv and was preparing to escape from Ukraine
Zelensky later confirmed that yesterday, on the 48th day of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, Medvedchuk tried to flee the country.
«It is very symbolic that it was on Cosmonautics Day that Medvedchuk was detained… Well, for this «cosmonaut» — in a bad sense of the word — the famous «Let's go!» I consider it especially cynical of him to use military camouflage. I tried to disguise myself. Here is such a «warrior», such a «patriot», — said the head of state.
In his address, the president offered the leadership of the Russian Federation to exchange Ukrainian prisoners of war for the detained MP.
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There has been no reaction from the Russian leadership to Zelensky's proposal yet. However, after the publication of information about the detention of Medvedchuk in Ukraine, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation doubted its veracity, saying: «The photo with the allegedly detained Medvedchuk needs to be checked due to the large number of fakes».