This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
The Kremlin has rejected Kyiv’s offer to swap arrested pro-Russian Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk for Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russian troops during Moscow’s ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said late on April 12 that Medvedchuk was apprehended while trying to flee Ukraine in a military uniform. Zelenskiy, who posted a photo of Medvedchuk with his hands cuffed on social media, proposed swapping Medvedchuk for prisoners of war.
In an address early on April 13, he said it was important for security and military forces to consider such a possibility.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on April 13 that “Medvedchuk is not a Russian citizen and has nothing to do with the special military operation [in Ukraine].”
“We do not know at all if he wants Russia’s involvement in resolving this libelous situation he faces,” Peskov said, adding that Russia will continue following the situation around Medvedchuk.
According to Peskov, Medvedchuk’s arrest and the criminal cases launched against him are politically motivated.
Medvedchuk planned to escape Ukraine by secretly crossing into the Transdniester region of Moldova, but his plan was foiled, the head of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said on April 13.
Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agents were waiting for Medvedchuk in Transdniester to take him to Moscow, but he was instead arrested in Kyiv region on his way to the border, the head of the SBU said.
Medvedchuk, who led the Opposition Platform — For Life party, which advocated closer ties with Russia, was arrested last year on charges of treason and financing terrorism .
The 67-year-old Medvedchuk denies the charges and calls them politically motivated.
Medvedchuk, who owns energy assets in Russia, is one of Ukraine’s wealthiest individuals, with a fortune estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
On April 13, Britain placed sanctions on Medvedchuk and several Russian citizens over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine placed sanctions on Medvedchuk in February 2021, freezing his assets, and took three television stations off the air that it said belonged to him and had been promoting Russian propaganda.
He was later charged and put under 24-hour house arrest pending trial. However, the judge in the case allowed Medvedchuk to be released from house arrest by posting bail.
Medvedchuk was hit by sanctions by the United States in 2014 for undermining democracy in Ukraine.
