The pro-Russian politician and oligarch Victor Medvedchuk, was arrested last night by Ukrainian security forces and offered him by the President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, as a bargaining chip to Vladimir Putin. Medvedchuk, nickname “Prince of Darkness” or “Gray Cardinal”has been considered for 20 years the main agent of Kremlin influence in Ukrainian politics, especially in the Donbas where the most important war action is now centered.

“I have known (Russian President Vladimir) Putin since 2002, when I was head of the presidential administration. I am proud of our intimate relationship“, he told Efe in an interview in 2019.

Medvedchuk, 67, is for many Ukrainians the “traitor” par excellence for his close relations with Russia, to which we should add that in recent years he has been one of the main enemies of the president, Volodímir Zelenski.

“If you ask me who can rule the Ukrainian state, Last I will mention Zelensky“, He commented shortly before the 2019 presidential elections won by the current Ukrainian president.

“I suggest the Russian Federation swap this person for our men and women who are now in Russian captivity, ”the current Ukrainian president said in a video after Medvedchuk’s photo was released in custody.

Medvedchuk’s Kremilin response

Following Zelensky’s message, the Kremlin announced today that it was waiting to see what might happen to Ukrainian deputies and businessmen, but he threw out the idea of ​​exchanging it with prisoners.

“We will follow the fate of Medvedchuk and ask politicians in Europe to do the same. that many talk about freedom of speech. Now is the time to intervene so that the kyiv regime stops prosecute someone for having differing political opinions“said a Russian government spokesman, Dmitry Peskovquoted by Sputnik news agency.

He added that “about the exchange where different personalities in kyiv are enthusiastically referred to, Medvedchuk is not a Russian citizen, he has no connection to the military operation special (the name by which the Kremlin called the invasion of Ukraine), is a foreign politician ”.

Victor Medvedchuk, Putin’s compadre

Medvedchuk is familiarly known as “Putin’s comrade” and is the leader of Russia he was the godfather of one of his daughtersceremony held at St. Petersburg.

As head of the Ukrainian Presidential Administration (2002-2004), coordinated under-the-table cooperation between Moscow and Kyivdelayed by the Orange Revolution, a setback for the Kremlin that supported the election of pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych.

In 2012 created the organization Ukrainian Optionwhose purpose is to support Ukraine’s entry into the Customs Union together with Russia at the expense of signing an Association Agreement with the European Union.

During the Maidan (2014) he was one of the main confidants of Yanukovych and like him, after the suppression of protests and the victory of the revolution fled to the Crimean peninsulawhich after weeks will be included by Russia.

With Putin’s re -election, established the pro-Russian Platform for Life partywhere he proposed a peace plan for the Donbas, which he even presented to the European Parliament.

The plan, which was supported by the Kremlin and rejected by kyiv, included providing a high degree of self-government to the pro-Russian Donbas, along with its own Government, Parliament and police. “Kyiv wants to regain territory by force and Russia will not allow this“, then he told Efe.

Thus, when he was accused of high treason for disclosing state secrets, having business in the Crimea and with the separatists of the Donbas, Putin came to his defense.

“The decisions are clearly political and arbitrary, and aim to clean up the political gap of those forces that promote a peaceful solution to the crisis in southeastern Ukraine, Donbas, and good neighborly relations with Russia (.. ..), we must respond in a timely and appropriate manner“, he pointed out.

The Two Ukraine by Victor Medvedchuk

Like the Kremlin, he has always advocated the federalization of the country. “Ukraine can only exist as an independent and sovereign country with a federal regime, since then the east and west are very different because of their mentality“, he insisted.

As Putin did in February when he recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics, Medvedchuk always reminded himself that he could half of Ukraine belongs to the Russian Empire and half in Lithuania, Poland and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

“Lenin gave the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, Zaparojia, Mykolaiv and Dnipro. Those regions have nothing in common with others, “he said.

Therefore, Medvedchuk advocated the search for a “common denominator” between supporters of Ukrainian nationalism and those who want to speak only Russianwho goes to an Orthodox church based in Moscow and to those who support the kyiv Patriarchate. “If it does not respect the rest of Ukraine, the kyiv government will be weak and unstable,” he said.

Although the Russian leader has said on several occasions that Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians are one people, Medvedchuk explained that “Putin shares my opinion. Russia and Ukraine are two friends and close people, but two people, not just one“.

The war not announced by Victor Medvedchuk

Medgedchuk has always vehemently denied that Putin is interested in a Ukraine that is weak and hostile to itself, because the two countries share 2,230 kilometers of border.

“Is it convenient for Russia to have a country where chaos and unrest prevail, where the people can bend the will of the government by force, where the threat of revolution can lead to pogroms? Does such a neighbor belong to you? I will never believe it, “he said.

He insisted that “Russia and its president are interested a normal, developed and civilized Ukraine“. But his sayings were never conditioned on the start of this war: the very day of the Russian invasion, February 24, He fled.

According to US intelligence, he is considered one of the main candidates to lead a future puppet government in kyiv.

Ironically, his father, Vladimir Medvedchuk was sentenced to eight years in prison under Stalin. (1944) for belonging to a Ukrainian nationalist organization and for counterrevolutionary activities.

There, in GULAG, in Siberia, their parents met. And Medvedchuk himself was born in the Krasnoyarsk region of Russia, from where he returned to Ukraine in time to go to school in Zhitomirsk, near kyiv. Today, this millionaire lawyer is faced with cases of infidelity against the country and financing terrorism.