Viktor Medvedchuk
 Viktor Medvedchuk    (lawyer, politician) | |
|---|---|
 Viktor Medvedchuk in April 2022 | |
| Born | 7 August 1954 |
Viktor Volodymyrovych Medvedchuk (born 7 August 1954) is a Ukrainian lawyer, business oligarch and politician who was elected as People's Deputy of Ukraine on 29 August 2019. He was the chairman of the pro-Russian political organisation "Ukrainian Choice" from 2018 to 2022. He is an opponent of Ukraine joining the European Union.
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Ukrainian MP
From 1997 to 2002 Viktor Medvedchuk was a member of the Ukrainian parliament, served between 2002 and 2005 as chief of staff to former Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma and after this was absent from national politics until 2018.[1] In November 2018, Medvedchuk was elected chairman of the political council of the political party "For Life", which later merged into the "Opposition Platform – For Life" party. In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election, the party won 37 seats on the nationwide party list and six constituency seats. As he placed third on the 2019 election list of "Opposition Platform – For Life", Medvedchuk was elected to parliament.
Accused of treason
On 19 February 2021, the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine included Medvedchuk and his wife, Oksana Marchenko, on the Ukrainian sanctions list, due to alleged financing of terrorism. On 11 May 2021, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine accused Medvedchuk of treason and attempted looting of national resources in Crimea (which had been annexed by Russia but remains internationally recognised as Ukrainian).[2] Medvedchuk's house arrest started on 13 May 2021 but escaped on 28 February 2022, four days after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and went missing. On 8 March 2022 he was removed from the post of co-chairman of "Opposition Platform – For Life". On 12 April 2022 Medvedchuk was arrested by the SBU Ukrainian secret service.[3]
Godfather's ally
Viktor Medvedchuk is considered an ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, whom Medvedchuk has referred to as "a personal friend". Putin is the godfather of Medvedchuk's youngest daughter.
Prisoner swap?
On 18 April 2022, Russian state TV broadcast video footage of two UK men who were captured for fighting with the Ukrainian army in Mariupol.
In the videos, Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner proposed a prisoner swap for Viktor Medvedchuk, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who is in Ukrainian captivity.
Pinner and Aslin asked UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to arrange the swap via Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy:
- "I'd like to see my wife again," Pinner said, addressing Johnson. "We look to exchange myself and Aiden Aslin for Mr Medvedchuk. Obviously I would really appreciate your help in this matter."
Aslin linked his request to a prior request by Medvedchuk's wife, Oksana Marchenko, for Medvedchuk to be part of a prison swap. Aslin said:
- "I think that Boris needs to listen to what Oksana has said. I remember seeing in the news when Viktor Medvedchuk was arrested for his political affiliations. If Boris Johnson really does care about British citizens like he says he does then he will help pressure Zelenskyy to do the right thing and return Viktor to his family and return us to our families."
In a video posted on Telegram on April 12, President Zelensky said he was open to trading Medvedchuk for captured Ukrainians, but the Kremlin declined the offer the next day.
In earlier comments, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Medvedchuk was "not a citizen of Russia" in comments that seemed to dash his hopes of being traded.[4]
"Those freaks who call themselves the Ukrainian authorities say that they want to beat testimony out of Viktor Medvedchuk, 'quickly and fairly', convict him, and then exchange him for prisoners," Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said. "These people should watch out and lock the doors well at night to make sure they do not become the people who are going to be exchanged themselves."[5]
Death sentence
On 9 June 2022, War Monitor tweeted:
The Supreme Court of the DPR issued the first sentence to the mercenaries - the British Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner and the Moroccan Ibrahim Sadun were sentenced to death.[6]
The Telegraph reported:
The "Supreme Court" of separatist-held Donetsk region found the two Brits and a Moroccan student guilty on Thursday and sentenced them to death, Russian news agencies reported from the court.
The trial for the three men started on Tuesday and was held behind closed doors.
Mr Aslin’s brother refused to comment when contacted by The Telegraph.
Mr Aslin and Mr Pinner on Tuesday were seen in the defendants’ dock in their first public appearance in almost two months, after they were captured by the Russian army serving alongside Ukrainian marines in Mariupol.
Mr Aslin, from Newark in Nottinghamshire, was last seen on Russian state TV during an interrogation where he looked battered and appeared to slur his words. He had bruises and a cut on his forehead.
Footage released on Tuesday by the separatists’ "Supreme Court" showed the three men in a metal cage in court.
Mr Aslin, who appeared to have lost a lot of weight, replied in Russian "Yes, I do", when a judge asked him if he understood the indictment against him.
Mr Pinner also looked haggard and thin and replied "yes" to the same question.
The two Britons are standing trial along with Ibrahim Sadun, a Moroccan student from the same Ukrainian unit in Mariupol that surrendered after fighting the Russian army for 48 days as the city was pummelled by air strikes.
Russian state media has persistently accused the West of sending mercenaries to fight in Ukraine, so a high-profile trial of foreign fighters may prove to be a valuable propaganda tool.[7]
References
- ↑ "The return of the godfather: How Putin's best friend in Ukraine is staging an improbable comeback"
- ↑ "Danilov believes that Medvedchuk can be exchanged for Kremlin political prisoners"
- ↑ "Ukraine secret service says it has arrested top Putin ally"
- ↑ "Russia airs video of UK fighters captured in Ukraine asking to be exchanged for Putin ally Medvedchuk in a prisoner swap"
- ↑ "Russia issues threat over detained pro-Kremlin politician Viktor Medvedchuk and refuses prisoner swap deal"
- ↑ "British mercenaries sentenced to death"
- ↑ "British fighters Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner sentenced to death by Russian-backed court"
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