Ukrainian MP and businessman Viktor Medvedtchuk, close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was arrested on Tuesday and is now offered in “exchange” for Ukrainians in captivity in Russia. Who is he ? Make the point.
Indicted for high treason before the war
The legal setbacks of the Ukrainian multimillionaire, former deputy, Viktor Medvedchuk, 67, predate the war. This former lawyer who made his fortune in the industrial sector was born in Siberia where his father was exiled for having collaborated with the German occupation forces. The Medvedchuk family settled in the 1960s in northern Ukraine, near the border with Belarus, in a village in Zhytomyr Oblast.
Viktor Medvedchuk, 12th fortune in Ukraine in 2021 with 620 million dollars according to Forbes magazine, is known for his links with Russian President Vladimir Putin who is, according to the person concerned, the godfather of one of his daughters. The oligarch is the founder of the pro-Russian party “Opposition Platform-For Life”, which received around thirty Ukrainian deputies in Parliament before being banned in March, after the Russian attack.
In May 2021, the procedures generated for him resulted in his house arrest, after having charged him with “high treason” and of “attempt to plunder natural resources in Crimea”the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
On the run since the war, he was arrested
On February 26, two days after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian police noted his disappearance during a control visit.
This Tuesday, April 12, the Ukrainian authorities announced, during the day, the arrest of Viktor Medvedchuk. “A special operation was carried out thanks to the SBU (Ukrainian security services). Well done!”, President Zelensky said on Telegram. The message is accompanied by a photo of Viktor Medvedchuk, handcuffed and dressed in a Ukrainian army uniform.
⚡️BREAKING: Pro-Kremlin lawmaker Putin’s pal Medvedchuk has been captured.
Zelensky announced that Viktor Medvedchuk, a lawmaker from the opposition pro-Kremlin party platform, had been captured by the security service. Medvedchuk is accused of treason. He escaped house arrest in February. pic.twitter.com/M3SIi65uht
President Zelensky wants to exchange him for Ukrainian hostages
In his video address published on Telegram on Wednesday, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky offered Moscow to exchange Ukrainian deputy and businessman Viktor Medvedchuk, close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, for Ukrainians in captivity in Russia.
“I propose to the Russian Federation to exchange this man for our boys and girls who are currently in captivity in Russia. That’s why it’s important that our law enforcement and military also consider this possibility.“, said the president.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on Medvedchuk’s arrest to Russian news agencies, saying that“there are a lot of ‘fakes’ coming from Ukraine“and say that”this needs to be checked first“.
his yacht Royal Romance already seen in Monaco
It is 93 meters long by 15 meters wide. It can accommodate 14 guests in its seven luxurious suites by London interior designer Seymour Diamond and 22 crew members. This floating palace includes a beauty salon, a gym, a 12-meter swimming pool (by 4 wide), which flows into a waterfall.
The Royal Romance mega yacht flying the Cayman Islands flag was seized on March 23, 2022 in the Adriatic Sea by Croatian authorities. Owned by the company Fregata Marine Ltd, it has actually belonged to the Ukrainian oligarch, Viktor Medvedchuk since 2015, through his wife Oksana Medvechuka.
The Royal Romance is currently placed under close surveillance in the port of Rijeka (Croatia). Its estimated value is $200 million.
As reported by the Superyachtfan site, this ship is among many yachts seized from Russian in the port of Rijeka, with the only exception that the owner here is a Ukrainian national for his collusion with Russia and close with Vladimir Putin. These seizures also led to a series of threats against ships and crews in the Croatian port area; requiring police surveillance accumulated on site.
Departed from Monaco on the morning of April 14, 2021 according to site data monshiptrackingthe mega yacht then reached the Adriatic Sea where it is now subject to receivership.
A few days after the yacht was repatriated to the Adriatic Sea, Viktor Medvedtchuk was placed under house arrest in Ukraine, prosecuted for high treason and attempted plunder of natural resources in Crimea.
A pro-Trump?
On his Facebook account, his wife, Oksana Marchenko, 48, mother of three children (including Darina, 17, born of the union with Viktor) posts photos on programs in which she participated as a presenter-journalist, or as a candidate for Dancing with the Stars in its Ukrainian version in 2018.
On August 7, 2020, she posted her thanks for former US President Donald Trump and his wife. “Allow me to express my sincere gratitude for your wishes. Being great does not always mean being valued by contemporaries. Sometimes only history puts everyone in their rightful place…“, she writes in particular by allowing a personalized message from the Trumps.
Oksana Marchenko’s Instagram account has been locked.