Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Tuesday the arrest of pro-Russian Ukrainian politician Victor Medvedchuk, a friend of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.
“A special operation has been carried out thanks to the Security Service of Ukraine Bravo!” Zelensky wrote on his Telegram channel.
The message is accompanied by a photo of Medvedchuk, seated, handcuffed and dressed in military clothing with a Ukrainian flag badge.
Medvedchuk was under house arrest by order of the judge. But he went on the run on February 24, just as Russia began its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
‘Strong ties with Putin’
The 67-year-old politician and businessman was accused of high treason for revealing state secrets, having business in the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, working for Russia and having “solid ties” with Putin.
In fact, he visited Moscow several times to meet with Putin, which was widely reported on Russian public television, the last time in July 2019, when Zelensky was already president.
Donbás
The man known as Putin’s compadre has always defended the granting of a status of autonomy to Donbas. He even presented a peace plan that was backed by Moscow.
That plan included the granting of high levels of self-government to the areas controlled by the pro-Russian separatists and their own police. And he also presented the project to the European Parliament.
“If you ask me who can run the Ukrainian state, I would mention Zelensky last.” This is what Medvedchuk told Efe before the 2019 presidential elections won by the current Ukrainian president.
At the time, Putin called the arrest of Medvedchuk, leader of the Opposition Platform for Life party, a “purge of political space” in Ukraine. And he warned that Russia would react “in a timely and appropriate manner.”
“The decisions are clearly political and arbitrary, and are aimed at clearing the political space of those forces that advocate a peaceful solution to the crisis in southeastern Ukraine, Donbas, and good-neighborly relations with Russia,” he noted. .
Croatian authorities recently seized a yacht allegedly owned by Medvedchuk.
???????????????? | Ukrainian President Zelenski announces the arrest of Viktor Medvedchuk, one of the men close to Putin, and mentioned to assume power in Ukraine if kyiv had fallen. He was detained by Ukrainian forces in a “special operation” – BNO.pic.twitter.com/C1d6nNbfXs
— World in Conflict ???? (@MundoEClicto) April 12, 2022
???? Zelensky shows in a handcuffed photo Viktor Medvedchuk, former leader of the largest opposition party in Parliament and known as Putin’s ‘messenger’ in Ukraine. He fled from the house arrest he was under since 2021 at the beginning of the invasion https://t.co/MFpFlQPOSx pic.twitter.com/82k3cU3pb4
– THE COUNTRY (@el_pais) April 12, 2022
