LVIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukrainian fugitive oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, former leader of the pro -Russian opposition party and close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, met with enthusiasm in Kiev and protests in Moscow.
Analysts say Medvedev will be an important spearhead in Russia-Ukraine talks to end the destructive war waged by the Kremlin against its former Soviet neighbor.
Medvedev was arrested on Tuesday following a special operation conducted by the Ukrainian State Security Service or the SBU. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested that Russia could gain Medvedev’s independence by trading with the Russians captured by the Russians.
The 67-year-old oligarch escaped house arrest in Ukraine on February 24, days before the fighting began. He faces up to 15 years in prison and a life sentence for by buying coal for the Russian-backed separatist Republic of Donetsk on charges of treason and promotion of a terrorist organization.
Medvedev has close ties to Putin, who is believed to be the godfather of his youngest daughter. His arrest has sparked heated debate between Moscow and Kiev officials.
Dmitry Medvedev, vice president of the Russian Security Council and former president of the country, sent threats to the Ukrainian government in a Telegram message, calling them “monsters” and warning them to “look carefully around and i the door is locked. “
Zelensky’s adviser, Mikhail Podolyak, responded by calling Medvedev “nobody” and said his words were “disgusting and, as always, stupid”.
“The friendship between Putin and Medvedev makes him an important cup for Kiev, and the Kremlin is angry and eager for revenge,” Penta Center analyst Volodymyr Fesenko told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “The fate of Medvedev will undoubtedly be the subject of an exchange and one of the points of the secret agreements between Kiev and Moscow”.
Zelensky posted a photo of Medvedev sitting handcuffed and wearing a camouflage uniform with a Ukrainian flag patch in which he looked tired but was clearly harmless.
Medvedev’s wife, Oksana Marchenko, appealed to Zelensky to release her husband and guaranteed that “his life was not in danger”.
“My husband is being prosecuted for political reasons against the laws of Ukraine,” Marchenko said.
Medvedev is the head of the political council of Ukraine’s pro-Russian opposition platform, the Party for Life, the largest opposition group in the Ukrainian parliament. He is one of 44 deputies of the 450-seat Rada. His party’s activities were suspended during the war on Zelensky’s initiative.
“Medvedev (Russia) automatically became an accomplice of the war because he personally advised Putin in Ukraine and directly or indirectly influenced many of the Kremlin’s decisions,” Fesenko said. Zelensky no longer needed caution and by putting pressure on Medvedev he wanted to show that he was not afraid of the Kremlin and that he was willing to trade because he had different cards at the negotiating table.
The head of the Ukrainian National Security Agency, Ivan Bakanov, said on Wednesday that Russia’s security service, the FSB, was planning to evacuate Medvedev, who was hiding as a Ukrainian soldier, in Moscow through the disputed territory of Transnistria, where Moldova is designated by the Russians. troops. .
___
Follow all AP stories about the war in Ukraine here https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ucraina.
Source: Huffpost
