Viktor Volodymyrovych Medvedchuk (Ukrainian: Віктор Володимирович Медведчук; born 7 August 1954), also known as Viktor Vladimirovich Medvedchuk (Russian: Виктор Владимирович Медведчук), is a former[3] Ukrainian lawyer, business oligarch, and politician who has lived in exile in Russia[4] since September 2022 after being handed over to Russia in a prisoner exchange.[5][6][7][8] Medvedchuk is a pro-Kremlin Ukrainian politician and a personal friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin.[9][10][11]
From 1997 to 2002 Medvedchuk was a member of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament).[13] Medvedchuk served between 2002 and 2005 as chief of staff to then Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma.[8][14] After this he was absent from national politics until 2018.[13] In November 2018, Medvedchuk was elected chairman of the political council of the political party For Life, which later merged into the Opposition Platform — For Life party.[15] In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election, the party won 37 seats on the nationwide party list and six constituency seats.[16] As he placed third on the 2019 election list of Opposition Platform — For Life, Medvedchuk was elected to the Verkhovna Rada.[17][16]
On 13 January 2023, the Verkhovna Rada stripped Medvedchuk of his position as a people's deputy.[24][25]
Early life and education
Medvedchuk's father, Volodymyr Medvedchuk, avoided being drafted into the Red Army during World War II due to his suffering from Pott disease. During Nazi Germany's occupation of Ukraine, he worked for the German administration in a labor camp from April 1942 to November 1943. The section provided enforced deportation of the local able-bodied Ukrainian youth to work in Nazi Germany.[26] Volodymyr Medvedchuk was arrested by SMERSH on 7 August 1954 and sentenced to eight years of imprisonment and four of exile in Siberia "for participation in Ukrainian nationalistic activities."[26]
Viktor was born in Pochet, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russian SFSR. He has claimed that his father was a member of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists.[26] According to his Soviet court indictment, Volodymyr Medvedchuk had "joined the counter-revolutionary organization of Ukrainian nationalists" in April 1942.[27] In July 1995, Ukraine's military prosecutor's office reviewed the case of Volodymyr Medvedchuk and decided to rehabilitate him "In accordance with Article 1 of the Law of Ukraine of 17 April 1991 On the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression in Ukraine."[27]
In the mid-1960s, the Medvedchuks returned to the Ukrainian SSR, settling in Kornyn, Zhytomyr Oblast. In 1971, Medvedchuk graduated from high school in Borova, Fastiv Raion (Kyiv Oblast). In November 1971, Medvedchuk found a job as sorter at the Kyiv Railroad Post office factory producing periodicals. According to Dmytro Chobit, by the start of 1972, he was an overstaffed militsiya (the police of the Soviet Union) worker at the Motovylivka station (located in Borova).[28]
In the summer of 1972, Medvedchuk successfully passed an entrance exam to the Law School of KSU Shevchenko (now the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv). However he was not admitted. On 12 September 1972, he was enrolled in the university by the Rector's order #445, based on the authorization from the Ministry of the Interior of the Ukrainian SSR.[28] According to Dmytro Chobot, Medvedchuk was allowed to study at the university only thanks to a special recommendation from the police.[28]
After graduation, he tried to enroll at the Higher School of Militsiya, but was rejected due to his family history. He graduated from the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in 1978 as a lawyer.[13][29]
Legal career and participation in political trials against Soviet dissidents
In 1979, Medvedchuk became a member of the Shevchenkivska Legal Consultation of the Kyiv City Collegiate of Attorneys.[13][29]
In 1979, Medvedchuk was the lawyer for repressed poet Yuriy Lytvyn. In his last word in court on 17 December 1979, Lytvyn described Medvedchuk's work as a lawyer: "The passivity of my lawyer Medvedchuk in defense is not due to his professional profanity, but to the instructions he received from above and his subordination: he does not dare reveal the mechanism according to which provocations were implemented against me."[30] Lytvyn was convicted and died in prison.[29] According to official documents, in 1979 Medvedchuk appealed the verdict against Lytvyn issued by the Vasylkiv court and referred to the incompleteness of the investigation carried out in the case to request the Kyiv Regional Court to annul the verdict and send the case for a new trial.[29]
In 1980, Medvedchuk was appointed as a defence lawyer in the trial of dissident poet Vasyl Stus.[31][32] According to the testimony of people close to Stus (his wife and friend Yevgeny Sverstyuk), Stus refused to be defended by Medvedchuk, because "he immediately felt that Medvedchuk was an aggressive Komsomol type person, he didn't protect him, he didn't want to understand him, and, in fact, he was not interested in his business." Nevertheless, Medvedchuk remained Stus's lawyer despite the protests of his client.[33]
According to the "Chronicle of Current Events", Medvedchuk's plea at the Stus trial was as follows: "The lawyer said in his speech that all of Stus's crimes deserve to be punished, but he asks to pay attention to the fact that Stus, working in 1979–1980 at the enterprises of Kyiv, fulfilled the norm; in addition, he underwent a severe stomach operation."[34][31] According to Ukrainian lawyers Roman Titikalo and Ilya Kotin, Medvedchuk seems to have recognized the guilt of his client Stus during the court case. In doing so, Medvedchuk violated his professional duty as lawyer since he seemed to refuse to defend Stus, which grossly violated Stus's right to defense in court.[35]
Stus died after he declared a hunger strike on 4 September 1985 in Perm-36, a Soviet forced labor camp for political prisoners.[36] In a 2018 interview with The Independent, Medvedchuk claimed he could not have operated differently: "Stus denounced the Soviet government, and didn't consider it to be legitimate. Everyone decides their own fate. Stus admitted he agitated against the Soviet government. He was found guilty by the laws of the time. When the laws changed, the case was dropped. Unfortunately, he died."[14]
In 1985, he was a lawyer at the trial of poet Mikola Kuntsevich. According to Kuntsevich's memoirs, Medvedchuk "poured more dirt on him than the prosecutor." After Medvedchuk asked the court to dismiss one of Kuntsevich's motions, he challenged him and repeated the challenge several times, but each time the court dismissed it. In his last word, Medvedchuk said: "I completely agree with a comrade prosecutor in determining the sentence. But, for reasons incomprehensible to me, comrade prosecutor forgot that the defendant had not yet left one year and nine months from the previous term. I consider it necessary to add this period to the new punishment." This request was granted by the court.[37]
Medvedchuk founded a successful legal company, BIM, in the early 1990s.[38] From 1990 to 1997, he was the president of the Bar Association of Ukraine.[39] Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Medvedchuk was a leading member of the Kyiv Seven, one of the three most powerful political clans in Ukrainian politics.[40][41]
On 24 May 2023 Medvedchuk was stripped (disbarred) of the right to practise law in Ukraine by the Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of the Bar of Kyiv Oblast.[42] Efforts to disbar Medvedchuk had been ongoing since as early as 2016.[42] Medvedchuk appealed his disbar, on 9 February 2024 his appeal was rejected by the Kyiv District Administrative Court [uk].[43] The Sixth Appeal Administrative Court [uk] upheld this decision on 11 June 2024.[44]
In one instance, Medvedchuk paid a "huge amount of money" to the Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People's Self-Defence leader Eduard Kovalenko to hold a march supporting Yushchenko against his wishes. The march included Nazi-like flags and symbols, and Kovalenko used a Nazi salute in his support speech. The move was meant to discredit the democratic candidate (Yushchenko) in the eyes of Western observers.[53]
In November 2008, Medvedchuk became a member of the Supreme Council of Justice.[45][55]Focus evaluated Medvedchuk's assets in 2008 to be worth $460 million and labeled him the 57th richest man of Ukraine.[13]
On 21 March 2012, he stated he would be "returning to public politics not for the sake of the elections, as I strongly believe that all things that take place are not the result of elections, but the result of our mistakes during elections".[45][56] In a September/October 2013 poll by Razumkov Centre, a party led by Medvedchuk would score 0.9% of the votes during elections.[57]
A December 2013 poll by the Sociological group "RATING" gave it 0.7% and predicted that Medvedchuk's result in the first round ballot of the next (Ukrainian) presidential election would be 0.9%.[58] During 2013, Ukrainian experts argued that Medvedchuk's attempts to influence public opinion had failed.[12]
Accusations of involvement in Euromaidan suppression
Euromaidan activists alleged that Medvedchuk was among the masterminds of the attempted murder of Ukrainian journalist Tetiana Chornovol on 25 December 2013.[62] They called him a "perpetrator" and linked his name to the bloody events of the government strike against the Euromaidan.[63] Considering all Medvedchuk's recent activity directed at pushing Ukraine into economic union with Russia, the Euromaidan activists came to one of the Medvedchuks' villas to protest.[63]
The same day, Medvedchuk claimed that he was "ready for the war" with the Ukrainian opposition parties.[64] The next day, the Ukrayinska Pravda newspaper published an investigative article on Medvedchuk's allegedly illegal takeover of a government property back in 2004, while Head of Administration for the Ukrainian President. The source of the information was named as Mykhailo Chechetov (the state property chief at the time), who had been "forced" (in his own words) to help Medvedchuk in that deal.[65]
On 8 January 2014, Medvedchuk won a slander lawsuit against Oksana Zabuzhko. In an interview with Radio Liberty the writer had accused Medvedchuk of involvement in the provocations against Euromaidan on 30 November – 1 December (Medvedchuk had demanded a token amount of ₴0.25 as a compensation).[66]
Medvedchuk stated on 9 January 2014 that "The absence of the translation of the text of the [EU] Association Agreement, the provision of excessive asymmetric privileges to European manufacturers – all this indicates that the EU was preparing to turn the Ukrainian economy into its raw material appendage".[67] He also believed that because "the current team" leading Ukraine response to "interference in Ukraine's internal affairs by EU and U.S. diplomats inspire serious doubt that the current team is able to protect Ukraine's economic interests".[67] "Therefore, before the adoption by the Ukrainian people of the direct decision on the choice of the vector of external integration any actions by the authorities on lobbying this policy are only political speculation, which has nothing to do with the will of the people and the protection of the economic interests of our country".[67]
Alleged involvement in the 2014 separatist movements and Russo-Ukrainian War
In the same interview, Medvedchuk accused the Ukrainian authorities of "pushing the peninsula away, pushing its inhabitants away" which allegedly prompted them to agree to the annexation.[70] He also stated that Ukraine "If the Ukrainian government wanted to return Crimea" should restore the electricity and water supply to Crimea through the North Crimean Canal and should stop its economic blockade (of Crimea).[70] Allegedly, if this would happen "There would be no cessation of rail, freight and passenger traffic."[70]
On 24 June 2014, the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) informed the OSCE that Medvedchuk was appointed their representative in the negotiations with the Ukrainian Government.[75] On 8 July 2014, self-proclaimed Prime Minister of the Donetsk People's Republic Alexander Borodai stated that Medvedchuk "has no right to represent either the Donetsk People's Republic or the Luhansk People's Republic" and that he was a "mediator in the negotiations".[76] About the negotiations, Medvedchuk wrote on his Facebook page on 28 June 2014, "Hope that a compromise will be found has appeared and we'll manage to find a way of the present situation, retaining the territorial integrity of Ukraine and restoring peace".[77]
On 8 July 2014, it was reported that Medvedchuk would not be involved in further negotiations with the separatists.[78][79] However, in December 2014, he officially received the status of a negotiator from Ukraine on the exchange of prisoners with the separatists. He became Ukraine's special representative for humanitarian affairs in the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine on 5 June 2015.[80][81][82] In June 2021 Petro Poroshenko claimed that Medvedchuk had been involved in the prisoner exchange negotiations on the insistence of Russian PresidentVladimir Putin.[83]
In an August 2016 interview with Radio Free Europe, Medvedchuk urged the Ukrainian authorities to "reach a consensus" directly with the militant leadership ("DPR" and "LPR"), because, according to him, "there is no other way to return these territories".[70]
In a 2018 interview with The Independent, Medvedchuk claimed that the United States was interfering in the affairs of what he called the "brotherly" nations Ukraine and Russia.[14] He claimed that Russian president Vladimir Putin wanted peace in Donbas and that Putin would do everything to protect eastern Ukrainians from repressions from Ukraine's "party of war".[14] He admitted that Russia was illegally arming separatist forces but said that the United States, NATO and the EU were doing "the same" by providing weapons to Ukraine.[14]
In November 2018, Medvedchuk was elected chairman of the political council of (the political party) For life.[15] In December 2018, this party merged into the Opposition Platform — For Life party.[17] In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election, the party won 37 seats on the nationwide party list and 6 constituency seats.[16] In this election, Medvedchuk was placed third on the election list of Opposition Platform — For Life and thus elected to the Verkhovna Rada.[17][16]
In October 2020, the Kyiv Court of Appeals overturned the decision of a lower court to ban the distribution of the book The case of Vasyl Stus as demanded by Medvedchuk.[84] This non-fiction book details the criminal case of Ukrainian poet Vasyl Stus who was imprisoned by the Soviet Union.[85] Medvedchuk was the defence lawyer in the trial of Stus.[31][32]
Terrorism criminal case
On 19 February 2021, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine included Medvedchuk and his wife, Oksana Marchenko, on the Ukrainian sanctions list, due to the financing of terrorism.[18] It was claimed he was channeling money from his Russia-based refinery to the separatists of the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic in eastern Ukraine.[86] Medvedchuk has denied the accusations.[86] The sanctions froze the assets of Medvedchuk and his wife for three years and prevented them from doing business in Ukraine (most of Medvedchuk's assets were registered under his wife's name).[87] Ukrainian authorities announced that an oil pipeline that was reportedly controlled by Medvedchuk which transports Russian oil products to Europe would be nationalised.[87]
On 11 May 2021, Medvedchuk and fellow Opposition Platform — For Life lawmaker Taras Kozak were named as suspects for alleged high treason and the illegal exploitation of natural resources in Ukraine's Russian-annexedCrimea.[88][89] Three days later Medvedchuk was put under house arrest and fitted with an electronic tracking device.[90] On 14 May 2021 Russian authorities began the process of liquidating the Russian company Novye Proekty which was allegedly used by Medvedchuk for his alleged illegal exploitations in Crimea.[91]
In 2021, former President Petro Poroshenko was named as a co-suspect in the criminal case against Medvedchuk.[92] Medvedchuk's house arrest was prolonged four times, which means that Medvedchuk was supposed to spend at least 10 months under house arrest, even though Ukrainian law allows for a maximum of six months' house arrest.[93]
In May 2021, Ukrainian media published recorded audio in which Medvedchuk congratulated the leader of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin on Victory Day and wished him further "victories". In addition, Medvedchuk stated that he was impressed by a military parade in Donetsk.[95]
In January 2022, Medvedchuk was placed under sanctions by the United States, accusing him of involvement in a plot to set up a collaborator government in the wake of a Russian invasion.[96]
On 26 February 2022 Medvedchuk managed to prevent the expulsion of Illia Kyva from the parliamentary faction of Opposition Platform — For Life (Kyva had expressed his public support for the Russian invasion).[103]
Medvedchuk escaped house arrest on 27 February 2022.[20][104] The Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs claimed that Medvedchuk had fled house arrest, while his lawyer claimed that he had been "evacuated to a safe place in Kyiv", after alleged threats had been made to his personal safety.[104]
On 8 March 2022, Medvedchuk was deprived of the post of co-chairman of the political party Opposition Platform — For Life.[22]
Although Medvedchuk's whereabouts were still unknown on 18 March 2022, on that date an investigating judge granted the prosecutor's request to impose an in absentia precautionary measure.[105][106][d]
On 12 April 2022, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) arrested Medvedchuk in "a lightning-fast and dangerous multi-level special operation",[23] claiming they had foiled an attempt by Russia to get him out of the country.[107] Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy released a photo of Medvedchuk in handcuffs wearing a Ukrainian military uniform.[23] Zelenskyy suggested exchanging Medvedchuk for Ukrainian prisoners of war held by Russia, but on 13 April Russian officials refused this offer.[108] Medvedchuk had never left Kyiv, but had been hiding in a luxurious three-story house near Protasiv Yar.[103]
On 16 April 2022, the Lychakivskyi District court of Lviv sent Medvedchuk into custody without the possibility of bail and on 3 August, the court extended his term of detention without setting any bail within the period of pre-trial investigation.[109]
On 18 April 2022 Medvedchuk released an appeal to the Presidents of Russia and Ukraine to be exchanged for Ukrainian troops and civilians who were trapped in the Siege of Mariupol.[110] The following day Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov stated that Medvedchuk's appeal "has been seen, and there is no reaction [from the Kremlin] for the time being."[111]
On 16 January 2023 Medvedchuk published an article in the Russian newspaper Izvestia in which he blamed "the collective West" for creating the conditions that lead to what he labelled the "Ukrainian conflict," and advocated for taking Russian interests into account.[118][119] In the article, Medvedchuk did not mention, nor condemn, the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[119][118] Reporting about this opinion piece, Russia's TASS news agency stated that this was "his first article for the Russian media after arriving in Russia from Ukraine as a result of a detainee exchange."[120]
In April 2023 Medvedchuk created the "Different Ukraine" movement.[121] This organisation claims that Ukraine is ruled by Nazi's and repeats other Russian disinformation.[121] Various fugitives from Ukraine joined this organisation: political commentators (from already closed pro-Russian TV channels) like Ruslan Kotsaba, deputies of local councils from Opposition Platform — For Life and other fled Ukrainians accused of treason and separatism by the Ukrainian authorities.[121] In December 2023 a branch of "Different Ukraine", who claimed to be an international organisation, was opened in Serbia.[122]
In March 2024, the Czech Republic accused Medvedchuk of financing a pro-Russia propaganda network (the media outlet) Voice of Europe that paid European politicians in cash or cryptocurrency in an attempt to influence elections.[123]
In exile Medvedchuk lost his right to practice law in Ukraine.[44] He appealed this disbar, but his appeal was rejected by court on 9 February 2024 and on 11 June 2024 (by a higher court).[43][44]
Five days before the 24 February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Medvedchuk's wife, Oksana Marchenko, left for Belarus.[132] She later published a video from Moscow.[132] On 11 April 2023 the Ukrainian police issued an arrest warrant for Marchenko on the grounds that she was "hiding from pre-trial investigation authorities."[133]
In 2008 the Ukrainian magazine Focus estimated Medvedchuk's wealth at $460 million.[128] His investments included energy, resources and media.[128]
On 13 March 2022, Ukrainian media reported that Medvedchuk had in his possession a replica of a Pullmandining car.[21][96] Allegedly this wagon had been a birthday present from his wife Oksana Marchenko.[21]
In July 2022, Medvedchuk's Bell 427 helicopter and a Gulfstream G650 business jet was seized and handed over to the Ukrainian Army, as part of the ongoing investigation on him for abuse of power and embezzlement.[134]
Relationship with Vladimir Putin
In Ukraine, Medvedchuk is considered an ally of Russian PresidentVladimir Putin.[10] He has frequently been referred to as "a personal friend of Putin".[10] The two first met in 2003, during Medvedchuk's tenure as Head of Ukraine's Presidential Administration.[14] In 2004, Putin became godfather to Medvedchuk's youngest daughter Darya.[129] According to Medvedchuk, this was at request of his wife, TV presenter Oksana Marchenko, and that she had asked him to persuade Putin to accept.[129]
In an August 2016 Radio Svoboda interview, Medvedchuk stated that his relationship with Putin was helping him to "help the interests of (Ukraine)."[70] In a 2018 interview with The Independent, Medvedchuk claimed that he used his relationship with Putin to help prisoner exchanges in the War in Donbass.[14] He stated that, unlike Putin, he sees Ukraine and Russia as two separate "Slavic nations, with intertwined histories, religion. I tell him this all the time. I don't think it's one nation. You simply can't say this."[14] In the 2018 interview, he claimed he "often" discussed Ukraine with Putin.[14]
In his 2015 book All the Kremlin's Men, Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar claimed that Putin believed that no question involving Ukraine could be solved without Medvedchuk.[14][135]
In a 2019 interview with filmmaker Oliver Stone, Putin did acknowledge that he was godfather to Medvedchuk's daughter.[136] Putin described their relationship as "I would not say that we are very close but we know each other well."[136]
Notes
^The British government concurrently named Yevheniy Murayev as another potential Kremlin favorite to lead a puppet government.[98][99]
^Although the capture of Kyiv appeared to be a primary Russian military goal in the first weeks of the war, on 2 April 2022 Russian forces abandoned their Kyiv offensive.[101][102]
^In order to make this plan (Medvedchuk becoming Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's national parliament)) a reality he would have needed 226 votes from his fellow MP's while his own party Opposition Platform — For Life had only 44 seats and no allies in parliament.[103]
^ abcChobit, Dmytro (2001). "З РАННЬОЇ БІОГРАФІЇ". Нарцис, або Штрихи до політичного портрету Віктора Медведчука [Narciso, o colpi al ritratto politico di Viktor Medvedchuk].
^Ivanitsky, Aleksandr (10 January 2022). "Медведчуку продлили домашний арест" [Medvedchuk extended house arrest]. korrespondent.net (in Russian). Retrieved 9 March 2022.
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