Media: Viktor Medvedchuk was replaced at the initiative of Russia

The project has been completed with Moscow initiative that demanded from Kyiv that five commanders of the Azov regiment He stayed in Turkey. The Ukrainian authorities agreed to this condition The newspaper reported.

According to the Turkish newspaper, the stock exchange was supposed to look like an “ordinary event in an ordinary place” to outsiders, so as not to draw attention to what is actually happening. As reported, each side sent one plane to Ankara at that time – Medvedchuk was on the Ukrainian plane, and the commander of the Azov regiment was on the Russian one. The exchange was supposed to go smoothly.

Medvedchuk He was considered a lobbyist for the Kremlin in Ukraine for the past two decades. He was supposed to be in close contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2003, Putin became the godfather of Medvedchuk’s daughter. In recent years, the pro-Russian politician has been one of the leaders of the opposition platform – the Party for Life, which is represented in the Verkhovna Rada and is considered a party that supports Moscow’s interests.

When war broke out in February 2022, Medvedchuk accused Kyiv of high treason. He escaped from house arrest, but was captured. Post a picture of the captive few on social media Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In April, Zelensky proposed that Russia agree to a prisoner-of-war exchange, during which Ukraine could extradite Viktor Medvedchuk.

Also The oligarch appealed to the Russian authorities to agree to exchange him for the defenders of Mariupol And civilians in this city however The Kremlin did not initially respond to his appeal. The oligarch was released only a few months later.

Performed September 21, 2022 The exchange operation was one of the largest such operations since the beginning of the war. It covered 215 Ukrainian soldiers, as well as 10 foreigners who fought on the side of Ukraine. On the other hand, the authorities in Kyiv expelled 55 Russian soldiers and Medvedchuk.