DNA Explainer: Why Russia is so unhappy with the captivity of Viktor Medvedchuk?

Amid the Russia Ukraine war, one name the featured very prominently, besides the familiar names of the Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is that of Ukrainian lawyer, business oligarch and politician Viktor Volodymyrovych Medvedchuk.

Earlier this year, the United States imposed sanctions against Viktor Medvedchuk along with three other Ukrainians, accused of working with Russia to destabilise Kyiv. Viktor Medvedchuk was elected as People's Deputy of Ukraine on August 29, 2019.

Medvedchuk served as the chairman of the pro-Russian political organisation, Ukrainian Choice, from 2018 to 2022. He is an opponent of Ukraine joining the European Union. So, on day 48 of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, when President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acted to hurt Putin, he had hit the nail. 

Read | Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offers to trade pro-Russian politician for Prisoners of War

On Tuesday, a photo of dishevelled Viktor Medvedchuk in handcuffs, wearing military uniform was seen across all media. The same day, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a late night address offered to exchange Medvedchuk for the Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) in Russian captivity.

Though shaky, but in response, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Medvedchuk was a Ukrainian citizen and denied any covert connection between the politician and Moscow. "As regards the exchange, which various individuals in Kyiv are talking about with such passion and glee, Medvedchuk is not a citizen of Russia and he has nothing to do with the special military operation. He is a foreign politician," Peskov said.

How Viktor Medvedchuk was made captive?

The 67-year-old business tycoon Viktor Medvedchuk had been under house arrest in the Ukraine capital Kyiv - but escaped soon after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

On Wednesday, Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Chief Ivan Bakanov revealed more details of the operation, saying he was arrested in Kyiv region on his way to the border.

Agents of Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) were waiting for him in Trans-Dniester, a pro-Russian breakaway region of Moldova, from where he was to be taken to Moscow.

"We were up against not only Mr Viktor Medvedchuk," he said. "We were up against a very powerful enemy, the Federal Security Service," Ivan Bakanov added.

The pro-Russian politician and businessman, Viktor Medvedchuk, who has been held by the security services is said to be one of the richest persons in Ukraine.

Within days of the invasion, Medvedchuk disappeared from his Kyiv house arrest, leading many to believe that Russian special forces had managed to spirit him out of the country.

Read | Russia-Ukraine war: Ukrainian army arrests Vladimir Putin's aide, 10 updates

Who is Viktor Medvedchuk?

Viktor Medvedchuk's wealth is said to come mainly from Russian oil interests and his close ties with the Kremlin. Along with one MP Taras Kozak, the two men are said to have made millions from buying a 42% stake in a Russian oil refinery in the mining city of Novoshakhtinsk for a knockdown price.

An oil and media baron and longtime confidant to Putin, Medvedchuk eventually bought a majority stake in the refinery in the name of his wife, TV star Oksana Marchenko, to avoid US sanctions.

Viktor Medvedchuk is the leader of the pro-Russian Opposition platform For Life. Backed by a group of billionaires, who like Medvedchuk are sympathetic to the Kremlin. This platform is the biggest opposition force in the country.

Medvedchuk was tolerated in Ukrainian political circles because he was seen as an important interlocutor for communication with the Kremlin. He also played an important role as a go-between with Russian-backed separatists who seized areas of eastern Ukraine.

Shortly before the war began, US intelligence claimed that Medvedchuk had been tapped by the Kremlin for a puppet government in a postwar regime.

Medvedchuk and his family were among the first to receive doses of the Russian Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V in August 2020. Putin and Medvedchuk even brokered a deal to deliver millions of doses of the vaccine to Ukraine, but it was later rejected by the Ukrainian government. 

In May 2021, he was charged with treason and placed under house arrest, which he escaped after the Russian invasion. He was accused of attempting to steal natural resources from Russia-annexed Crimea and leaking military secrets to Russia. Several of his television channels were also controversially shut down last year for allegedly spreading Russian disinformation.

In March this year, Zelenskyy announced his government's decision to suspend 11 parties, including that of Medvedchuk, for links with Kremlin. The Zelenskyy government has adopted a strategy called 'de-oligarchisation', where it targets some of the president's political adversaries through sanctions.

At the request of the State Bureau of Investigation in Ukraine, 154 items of property of oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk and his wife have been seized. Among it are thirty land plots, 32 apartments, 23 houses, 17 parking lots, a yacht and a fleet of 26 luxury cars.

Close ties between Medvedchuk and Putin

Viktor Medvedchuk, a man often named the 'dark prince' of Ukrainian politics, has been a loyal ally to Putin for two decades. Their ties go even deeper than political alliances. The two have taken holidays together on the Black Sea at Putin's residence in Sochi and Medvedchuk's villa in Crimea. Putin is godfather to Medvedchuk's youngest daughter, Daria.

The oil and media baron is a longtime confidant to President Vladimir Putin. The two of them seem to share a close relationship and is often sighted together at Formula 1 races and martial arts meetings. They are also known to holiday together on the Black Sea, a media report suggested.

In an interview with Time, Medvedchuk had once said, "I don't want to say I exploit that relationship, but you could say it has been part of my political arsenal." On the other hand, in an interview with filmmaker Oliver Stone in 2019, the Russian President said they both meet from time to time. "I would not say that we are very close but we know each other well," he said.