President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Tuesday night that he had revoked the Ukrainian citizenship of wealthy businessman Viktor Medvedchuk, a close associate of Vladimir Putin, accused by Kyiv of pro-Russian high treason.
“Based on the documents prepared by the security services and the State Migration Service, and in accordance with the Constitution of our state, I have decided to revoke the citizenship of four people,” including Viktor Medvedchuk and three other politicians, he said, stated.
He returned to Moscow in a prisoner exchange.
Viktor Medvedchuk, 68, was handed over to Russia in a prisoner exchange between Kyiv and Moscow in late September 2022 after being jailed for more than five months in Ukraine.
This former deputy, born in Siberia (Russia), was considered Vladimir Putin’s man in Ukraine, where he defended his interests for more than 20 years after meeting in the early 2000s.
In the aftermath of the Russian invasion on February 24, this wealthy businessman fled from house arrest and disappeared into the wild before being arrested on the run by Ukrainian special forces on April 12.
Dressed in military uniform, handcuffed and with disheveled hair, this billionaire, once one of the most influential men in Ukraine, then appeared only as a shadow of himself in the images released by the Ukrainian services.
Three other people stripped of their Ukrainian nationality
Already hit by US sanctions for his role in the 2014 annexation of Crimea, Viktor Medvedchuk is also under British sanctions.
In addition to Viktor Medvedchuk, the decision affects Volodymyr Zelensky Taras Kozak, Renat Kuzmin and Andriï Derkatch, the three Ukrainian politicians suspected of important ties to Russia.
“If the people’s deputies choose to serve not the Ukrainian people, but the murderers who came to Ukraine, then our actions will be appropriate,” Volodymyr Zelensky defended himself Tuesday night in his speech.
He did not mention in his message the alleged Russian citizenship of the people attacked.
Source: BFM TV
