Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he stripped four politicians of their Ukrainian citizenship by decree. This is stated in a video message on Zelensky’s Telegram channel.
If the people’s deputies choose to serve not the Ukrainian people, but the murderers who came to Ukraine, then our action will be appropriate,” he wrote.
Viktor Medvedchuk, Andriy Derkach, Taras Kozak and Renat Kuzmin were stripped of their Ukrainian citizenship. All four deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of the 9th convocation, elected in 2019, were all accused of treason and connections with the Russian authorities. After the outbreak of hostilities on February 24, they all left the territory of Ukraine.
Accused of treason, Viktor Medvedchuk escaped from house arrest on February 21 and was detained by the SBU on April 12. On April 14, the court arrested 154 properties belonging to Medvedchuk and his wife. These are 26 cars, 30 plots, 23 houses, 32 flats, 17 parking lots, a yacht and shares in the authorized capital of 25 companies and enterprises.
On September 21, Medvedchuk and 55 Russian soldiers were replaced by 215 Ukrainian soldiers, including fighters and commanders of the Azov National Regiment (the organization was banned in Russia).
Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the Ukrainian politician’s exchange with the Ukrainian army. After the exchange, Medvedchuk went to Russia.
Viktor Medvedchuk was born in the Krasnoyarsk region in 1954, his father was exiled to Siberia for joining the Ukrainian nationalist movement. In the 1960s the Medvedchuks returned to Ukraine. After graduating from high school, Viktor became a lawyer, among his clients were Ukrainian dissidents. “In the Soviet years, I was a lawyer, not a researcher. By the way, I really wanted to become a researcher, ”said Medvedchuk himself. He was criticized for his indifferent attitude towards his customers.
Medvedchuk entered politics in 1993 as a member of the Human Rights Party. In 1998 he headed the Ukrainian Social Democratic Party. During the presidential election in 1999, he headed the campaign headquarters of the future head of state Leonid Kuchma. In 2002, he became the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration.
In 2004, Medvedchuk became “Putin’s godfather” – the President of the Russian Federation became the godfather of the daughter of a Ukrainian politician.
In 2017, Viktor Medvedchuk participated in the prisoner exchange negotiations between Kyiv and Donetsk. The President of Ukraine at the time, Petro Poroshenko, said that Medvedchuk was “de facto Putin’s representative”.
In 2018, Medvedchuk became chairman of the Opposition Platform – For Life party, and in 2021 Zelensky imposed sanctions on him in connection with an investigation into the supply of coal from the LNR to Russia.
Also in the 1990s, Medvedchuk began his business career. But he was on the list of the richest in Ukraine only in 2021 with $ 620 million – he had assets in the energy complex, metallurgy, real estate and media.