Ukraine announces that it arrested Viktor Medvedchuk, a Russian oligarch and friend of Putin

The man is accused of treason and selling state secrets.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Tuesday that his country’s security forces have captured Viktor Medvedchuk, a fugitive Ukrainian oligarch and close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“A special operation was carried out thanks to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). Well done!” Zelensky said on his Telegram channel.

The Ukrainian president also shared a photo of Medvedchuk sitting on a chair with his hands handcuffed.

“Details later Glory to Ukraine!” Zelensky added.

For his part, Mikhailo Podolyak, deputy head of the president’s office, assured that Medvedchuk “needs to hide in a prison in Ukraine, with many years in prison guaranteed”, since “in Russia he would be eliminated”.

In his official Twitter profile, Podolyak accused Medvedchuk of “regularly lying regarding the situation in Ukraine, stealing money and ultimately becoming one of the initiators of the war.”

In February last year, Medvedchuk, leader of the Opposition Platform for Life party, was charged with treason once morest Ukraine. The kyiv government blocked the television channels owned by Medvedchuk and imposed sanctions once morest the businessman.

Medvedchuk had been a deputy since 2019 and was the head of the office of the President of Ukraine between 2002 and 2005, during the presidency of Leonid Kuchma, the country’s second president.

The 67-year-old leader is accused of being pro-Russian and was under arrest in his country. He was accused of revealing state secrets, having business in the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, now occupied by Russia, working and having “solid ties” with Putin, whom he last visited in Moscow in July 2019.

In February he managed to escape, shortly before the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to the press in that country.

The war began on February 24. The European Union (EU), the US and the UK, among others, have implemented harsh financial sanctions once morest Moscow, and several multinational companies have suspended their operations in Russia.

At least 1,842 civilians have been killed and 2,493 more injured in Ukraine since the start of the conflict, according to UN estimates, but the real number is feared to be much higher.

More than 4.5 million Ukrainians have fled to other countries and millions more have become internally displaced, according to the United Nations refugee agency.

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