Ukrainian secret services have captured a pro-Kremlin politician and Vladimir Putin ally after weeks on the run.
Viktor Medvedchuk had escaped house arrest before going AWOL just three days after Russia launched its invasion on February 24.
President Volodymyr Zelensky published a photo of the captive looking tired and in handcuffs today.
The 67-year-old is the leader of Ukraine’s main opposition party For Life and has been described as the Russian President’s main ally over the border.
He was last year placed under house arrest after a treason case was opened against him.
Medvedchuk denies any wrongdoing.
The security services said in an online post: “You can be a pro-Russian politician and work for the aggressor state for years. You may have been hiding from justice lately.
You can even wear a Ukrainian military uniform for camouflage.
“But will it help you escape punishment? Not at all! Shackles are waiting for you and same goes for traitors to Ukraine like you.”
The post cited Ivan Bakanov, head of the secret services, as saying his operatives had “conducted a lightning-fast and dangerous multi-level special operation” to arrest Medvedchuk but did not give details.
Last month Zelensky said For Life and several other smaller political parties with ties to Russia had been suspended.
Medvedchuk’s lawyer has denied the allegation that he had escaped, instead claiming his client was forced to move location due to threats from nationalist groups.
“In connection with the real danger to life, as well as the need to ensure his protection, Viktor Medvedchuk was evacuated to a safe place in Kyiv,” the lawyer Larysa Cherednychenko said.
Medvedchuk claims Putin is godfather to his daughter and he describes him as “a personal friend”.
In an interview with the Independent last year 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.”
He also claimed he “often” discussed Ukraine with Putin.
In May last year, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine accused him of treason and attempted looting of national resources in Crimea.
Months earlier, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine included Medvedchuk and his wife, Oksana Marchenko, on the Ukrainian sanctions list, due to alleged financing of terrorism.
