The oligarch, charged for “high treason” before the offensive and assigned to residence, had disappeared after the beginning of the war. He tried, Tuesday, April 12, to leave the country. Volodymyr Zelensky proposed to exchange it against Ukrainian prisoners.
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On the photos broadcast by the Ukrainian authorities, it appears in military uniform, the air shot, the hair in battle and the handcuffs with the wrists. The member and a businessman Prorusse Viktor Medvedtchouk, 67, was arrested in Ukraine as part of a “special operation” while attempting to flee the country, announced, Tuesday, April 12, the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky. This arrest has a symbolic dimension for the country. Twelfth fortune of Ukraine in 2021 with 570 million euros, according to the Forbes magazine, the oligarcus directed the pretty opposition platform “for life”, prohibited following the Russian invasion. It is also an intimate friend of Vladimir Putin (the Russian president is the godfather of his daughter), of which he is considered the unofficial representative in Ukraine.
Before the war, Mr Medvedtchouk had been charged with “high treason” and “attempt to looting natural resources in Crimea”, the Ukrainian peninsula attached by Russia in 2014. Assigned with residence since May 2021, he had disappeared A few days after the start of the offensive, February 24th. “His arrest is not linked to his political orientation, but the fact that he violated the law,” says Oleksiy Melnyk, codirector of the Razumkov Center Reflection Group in kyiv. The news has been celebrated throughout the country. On the internet, dozens of memes, created from the photos where he is handcuffed, have immediately emerged.
“There is no reason to consider it a prisoner of war because he does not fulfill the criteria set by the Geneva Convention, considers the researcher, and it was not a fighter”, despite his military uniform. In this regard, the Ukrainian president has also denounced the “cynicism” of the businessman in “using camouflage outfit”: “He tried to camouflage. This is a” warrior “. Here is a” patriot “. “, Has he allocated.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY proposed on Wednesday to exchange it against the prisoners’ Ukrainians in Russia. “I propose to Russia to exchange your man against our boys and girls who are currently in captivity in Russia. It is therefore important that our law enforcement and our military also consider this possibility.”
A source of information for Russia
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitri Peskov, did not commented this proposal directly. “Medvedtchouk is not a Russian citizen. He has nothing to do with the special military operation, he is a foreign politician, he said. We do not really know if he wants the Russia participates in the resolution of this problem. “According to Mr. Melnyk, the message is clear:” The fact that Peskov says that he is not Russian, it’s a way of saying, “We do not need any need From you “. For I can assure you 100% that Medvedtchouk also has a Russian passport, like many Ukrainian politicians.”
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