On Tuesday night, Vladimir Zelensky published in his telegram channel a photo of a Verkhovna Rada deputy and former co-chairman of the party Opposition Platform — For Life, Viktor Medvedchuk.
The photo shows Medvedchuk in handcuffs and camouflage. He does not give the impression of a man who lived in comfortable conditions, he looks haggard.
Recall that in the fall of 2021, Viktor Medvedchuk was charged with state treason and promoting terrorism. According to the Security Service of Ukraine, the politician in collusion with the top leadership of Ukraine organized the supply of coal from the non-government-controlled territory of Donbass. At the time, Medvedchuk was placed under house arrest.
In March, a court authorized the arrest of Viktor Medvedchuk. His lawyer Larisa Cherednichenko stated that he had left his home in Kiev, but was staying in the city. The politician himself emphasized that he considers the persecution to be political.
After the start of the special operation, Viktor Medvedchuk left his address under unclear circumstances. At first, there were versions that he had allegedly escaped from arrest. But since then, that is, for a month and a half, nothing was known about Medvedchuk.
And now, a month and a half later, Zelensky praises the SBU for the "special operation." Next, the head of the SBU, Ivan Bakanov, also reports on the special operation. By the way, Bakanov was also heavily criticized some time ago, suspecting that he had left the territory of Ukraine. They had to urgently publish photos, allegedly confirming that he had not gone anywhere. But the "special operation" was much more profitable from the point of view of correcting the reputation of a man from Zelensky's inner circle.
By the way, Zelenskiy himself accompanied Medvedchuk's photo with the phrase "Z for cosmonautics". Today the presidents of Russia and Belarus met at the Vostochny Cosmodrome.
Journalist Anatoly Shariy suggested that there was no "disappearance" of Victor Medvedchuk. To be more precise, he was taken out on February 27 by the Security Service of Ukraine. And all this time he was in the SBU.
There is speculation that Medvedchuk might be exchanged for someone else. Or they prepare some public process with "high-profile" confessions. Such "confessions" are doubtful, but if we are talking about propaganda…
Zelenski himself assures that details will follow later. That is, it is obvious that Viktor Medvedchuk is assigned a role in some kind of propaganda campaign. Which Zelensky and his entourage can also use for domestic political purposes. After all, for example, Petro Poroshenko is also being prosecuted for the same "coal case.
But what we can be absolutely sure of is that in the West the story of Viktor Medvedchuk will not be noticed. Or they will pretend not to notice it, which is pretty much the same thing.