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Viktor Medvedchuk, a pro-Kremlin, Ukrainian politican, was arrested on Tuesday.
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The millionaire tycoon and politican has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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If Russia had taken Kyiv, many experts believe Medvedchuk would’ve been installed as the new leader.
On Tuesday President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Viktor Medvedchuk — a pro-Putin, Ukrainian politician and millionaire tycoon — was arrested after escaping house arrest earlier this year.
Medvedchuk is not a likely household name outside of the region, but his longtime influence in Ukrainian and Russian politics has made him a key player in the current conflict, as well as a rare member of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.
Over the last three decades, Medvedchuk has utilized his close relationship with Putin — who is godfather to Medvedchuk’s youngest daughter — to install himself as one of Ukraine’s most powerful backroom politicians, as well as one of its richest, with an estimated worth of $620 million.
Once nicknamed the “Gray Cardinal” due to his incomparable power and inconspicuous demeanor within Ukraine’s political system, Medvedchuk in recent years has been granted a new moniker by his critics: The Prince of Darkness.
A close relationship with Putin
Putin and Medvedchuk’s longstanding friendship dates back to 2003, when Alexander Voloshin, who was then serving as head of the Kremlin administration, introduced the two, according to a 2018 Independent profile on Medvedchuk. The two men quickly discovered that they shared “close worldviews,” with a notable distinction.
“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 don’t think it’s one nation. You simply can’t say this.”
Putin has frequently and falsely insisted that Ukraine is not a sovereign nation, but a historical and cultural part of Russia. Experts have said Putin’s obsession with subordinating Ukrainians was a factor in his decision to invade the country earlier this year.
But this point of disagreement did not keep the two men from growing closer. Medvedchuk has visited Putin at home in Moscow and Sochi and joined the Russian president to watch Formula One races and combat Sambo tournaments, according to The Washington Post.
Mikhail Zygar, a Russian journalist and author of “All the Kremlin’s Men” wrote in his book that Putin believed no question involving Ukraine could be dealt with without Medvedchuk.
Medvedchuk, for his part, told the Independent that it would be a “sin” for him not to use his close relationship with Putin in Ukrainian political dealings — a mindset that helped bolster Medvedchuk’s influence and standing within both Russian and Ukrainian politics.
A necessary emissary
In the aftermath of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, the US government sanctioned Medvedchuk, accusing him of contributing to the conflict in Ukraine, and undermining democratic processes and institutions within his own country.
In a 2016 interview with Radio Free Europe, Medvedchuk said that Crimea is legally a part of Ukraine, but “de facto, unfortunately, it belongs to Russia.” He added that the land was unlikely to be returned to Ukraine, accusing the Ukrainian government of alienating its residents to the point that they accepted Russian control.
As tensions erupted in eastern Ukraine with Moscow-backed separatists following the annexation, Medvedchuk styled himself as a necessary emissary between Ukrainian and Russian officials, passing messages between the two countries and assisting in prisoner negotiations, according to The Post.
Medvedchuk was not shy about touting his political importance, telling the Independent that he was passionate about prisoner negotiations because he wanted “people to be home with their families.”
“I know I’m the only one who can do it,” he told the outlet in 2018. “Others tried and failed.”
Leader of a pro-Kremlin political party
In November 2018, Medvedchuk highlighted his role as a singularly influential power broker between Ukraine and Russia to get himself elected chairman of the Ukrainian political party For Life which would later merge into the Opposition Platform – For Life political party.
Medvedchuk has rejected claims that the party is pro-Russian, despite a platform that undeniably advocates for closer ties to Moscow and frequently echoes Kremlin propaganda.
As Insider previously reported, Medvedchuk was thought to be Russia’s top choice as a replacement for Zelenskyy as the Kremlin’s puppet leader in Ukraine following the invasion. If Russia had taken Kyiv, many experts believe Medvedchuk would’ve been installed as the new leader.
But Medvedchek’s role as a Ukrainian-Russian broker was cut short in 2019 when Zelenskyy won the presidency.
In February 2021, Medvedchuk’s assets were frozen after Zelenskyy signed a decree accusing the politician of financing terrorism by channeling money from a Russia-based refinery to separatists in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine — allegations which Medvedchuk denied.
Three months later, prosecutors accused Medvedchuk and a fellow opposition lawmaker of high treason and placed Medvedchuk under house arrest. The Kremlin decried the move, calling the arrest a “witch hunt.”
Escape and arrest
Just days after Russian forces invaded Ukraine in late February, Ukrainian officials said Medvedchuk had escaped from house arrest.
A lawyer for Medvedchuk told Reuters that his client had been forced to move locations because of threats from nationalist groups amid the conflict.
But on Tuesday, Ukrainian security services confirmed that they had arrested Medvedchuk hours after Zelenskyy posted a photo of a haggard-looking, handcuffed Medvedchuk on Telegram.
“You can be a pro-Russian politician and work for the aggressor state for years. You may have been hiding from justice lately. You can even wear a Ukrainian military uniform for camouflage,” the security services said in a post.
“But will it help you escape punishment? Not at all! Shackles are waiting for you and same goes for traitors to Ukraine like you,” the post said.
The security services post cited Ivan Bakanov, head of the secret services with saying that his operatives conducted a “lightning-fast and dangerous multi-level special operation” to secure Medvedchuk’s arrest, Reuters reported.
The move comes after Zelenskyy in March said the Opposition Platform – For Life, as well as some other smaller Russian-linked political parties in Ukraine, had been suspended in Ukraine.
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