Viktor Medvedchuk

2022 - 4 - 12

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Image courtesy of "The Week UK"

Vladimir Putin's 'right-hand man' captured in Ukraine (The Week UK)

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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Factbox: Who is Ukraine's Viktor Medvedchuk, a prominent Putin ally? (Reuters)

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

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Zelensky says Ukrainian forces have captured top Putin ally (Axios)

Viktor Medvedchuk's close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin stretch back years.

You can even wear a Ukrainian military uniform for camouflage," the Security Service of Ukrainewrote in a Telegram postTuesday, alongside anther photo of Medvedchuk in handcuffs. - "But will it help you escape punishment? - "You can be a pro-Russian politician and work for the aggressor state for years.

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Zelenskyy says Ukraine captured pro-Putin politician Viktor ... (CNBC)

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.

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Zelensky touts capture of Putin friend Viktor Medvedchuk (Washington Examiner)

A key ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to have been captured by Ukrainian forces.

You can even wear a Ukrainian military uniform for camouflage," Ivan Bakanov, chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, said in a statement posted to Twitter, per a Google translation. Officials believe Putin was eyeing Medvedchuk to helm a pro-Russian puppet state in Ukraine if Moscow was able to overthrow the government, Newsweek reported. Glory to Ukraine!" he said in the message, according to a Google translation. Medvedchuk has also been subject to sanctions from Western nations such as the United States for "his role in undermining Ukrainian sovereignty." "You can be a pro-Russian politician and work for the aggressor state for years. "A special operation was carried out thanks to the SBU. Well done!

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Ukraine announces arrest of Putin ally in 'lightning-fast' operation (The Guardian)

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.

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Ukrainians nab Putin pal who escaped house arrest during invasion (New York Post)

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.

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Who is pro-Kremlim, Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk? (Business Insider)

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.

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Ukraine Says It Captured Pro-Russia Politician Medvedchuk (Forbes)

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.

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Live updates: Russia invades Ukraine, country braces for major ... (CNN)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Tuesday on Telegram that Viktor Medvedchuk, a pro-Russian Ukrainian politician and oligarch, had been detained ...

We hear it in the testimonies of women and girls who have been raped, and the beseeched civilians starving and freezing to death. A total of 2,135 people had been able to leave the Russian-occupied cities of Berdiansk and Melitopol, as well as two other towns in the Zaporizhzhia region. They want the international community to shine a spotlight on human rights abuses wherever they're being committed, and to bring the same urgency to stopping abuses and holding perpetrators accountable," he said. CNN cannot independently verify that there has been any kind of chemical strike in Mariupol. Separately, the military governor of the Donetsk region cited preliminary estimates Tuesday, saying that as many as 22,000 people had died in the city since the beginning of the invasion. "It is clear that the Ukrainian delegation works exclusively within a framework that is pro-Ukrainian and transparent. The official's statement on negotiations came as Ukrainians respond with outrage to the uncovering of widespread killing of civilians by Russian troops and an expected Russian offensive. Fourteen are in construction, two are in storage and four are under maintenance according to the ministry. I think I pointed to the possibility that these kinds of weapons would, would be used and it's something that we're very, very focused on,” he added. “And one of the concerns that was raised… In other words, as long as they want to fight, we ought to give them everything we possibly can to win the fight.” In a statement, SBU head Ivan Bakanov said, "You may be a pro-Russian politician and work for the aggressor state for years. Some observers speculated that Medvedchuk or one of his allies might be the Kremlin's preference to lead a puppet government in Ukraine if the Feb. 24 invasion succeeded in toppling Zelensky.

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Ukraine announces capture of top Putin pal Viktor Medvedchuk (POLITICO.eu)

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.

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Who is Viktor Medvedchuk, Putin's main man in Ukraine? (Aljazeera.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.

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Factbox-Who is Ukraine's Viktor Medvedchuk, a prominent Putin ally? (WTVB News)

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

– 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. – During the conflict with Russia in eastern Ukraine in 2014, he played a role in peace negotiations, including serving as a member of Ukraine’s negotiating team for the exchange of prisoners.

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Viktor Medvedchuk: Ukraine captures Vladimir Putin ally; Zelensky ... (WION)

Disclaimer: A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While WION takes utmost care to ...

Ivan Bakanov, who is the security agency chief said that agents had carried out a "lightning-fast and dangerous multi-level special operation to detain" the Russia-friendly lawmaker. Zelensky wrote on Telegram. While WION takes utmost care to accurately report this developing news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

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Kremlin rejects prisoner swap for captured Putin ally Medvedchuk (Business Insider)

Zelenskyy offered Russia the chance to swap kidnapped Ukrainians for Medvedchuk, the pro-Russian politician with close personal ties to Putin.

Putin and Medvedchuk are close allies. Medvedchuk — who was thought to be Putin's choice to serve as a puppet leader to replace Zelenskyy if the Ukrainian government was toppled — also has an estimated net worth is $620 million. "We don't know at all whether he himself wants some kind of participation on the part of Russia in resolving this libelous situation against him."

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Who is Viktor Medvedchuk and why does his arrest matter to the ... (The Guardian)

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.

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Image courtesy of "Newsweek"

Zelensky Proposes Putin Swap Viktor Medvedchuk With Ukrainian ... (Newsweek)

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!"

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Detained tycoon Viktor Medvedchuk: Putin's man in Ukraine (FRANCE 24)

Ukrainian tycoon Viktor Medvedchuk, captured by the country's special services after fleeing home arrest when Russia invaded, is seen as President Vladimir ...

As fears mounted of a Russian invasion, the US in January accused Medvedchuk of involvement in efforts by Russian intelligence services to prepare friendly Ukrainian politicians to take control of the country with the backing of occupying forces. "We have a great relationship. Putin denounced the crackdown against him as a "political" purge and vowed to "respond". He was sanctioned by the US for undermining the government and was involved in peace talks and negotiations for prisoner exchanges as a go-between. Medvedchuk continued to operate from the shadows during the turbulence rocking his homeland as Moscow responded by seizing the Crimea peninsula and igniting a war in eastern Ukraine. Medvedchuk and the Kremlin deny that he has been pulling the strings for the Kremlin in Kyiv, but the businessman makes no secret of his proximity to Putin.

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Explained: Who is Viktor Medvedchuk, Putin's close ally arrested by ... (The Indian Express)

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.

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