Land on Dnipro River Held by Wife of Viktor Medvedchuk Returned to Ukraine

The Office of the Prosecutor General announced that a court upheld the state’s rightful ownership of 9.5 hectares forest land valued at more than Hr.204 million ($5.5 million), which had been illegally transferred to Oksana Marchenko, the wife of a banned pro-Russian party leader, Viktor Medvedchuk.

“The Kyiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office defended in court the state’s right to 9.5 hectares of forestry land worth over Hr.204 million,” the agency wrote.

Prosecutors proved in court that part of the forest plot on the banks of the Dnipro River in the Boryspil district was illegally transferred to the private ownership of, the head of the banned Ukraine OPZZh (Opposition Platform for Life).

Subsequently, the land was transferred to the statutory fund of legal entities whose beneficiary is the wife of the former lawmaker, Oksana Marchenko.

On 7 February, it became known that the companies of Medvedchuk’s wife, Marchenko, had financed the Russian Guard and the Russian Interior Ministry in Crimea. She was notified of being under suspicion and later summoned to the SBU office in Ivano-Frankivsk for questioning.

On 23 February, the court seized Marchenko’s assets and property, suspected of financing Russian occupation groups.

On 24 March, the court seized Marchenko’s hidden assets worth over Hr.440 million ($11.9 million).

Who is Viktor Medvedchuk?

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Viktor Medvedchuk is a 68-year-old former Ukrainian lawmaker and oligarch, once dubbed the “dark prince” of Ukrainian politics.

He is considered one of the most influential pro-Russian politicians: he headed the second-largest faction of the Verkhovna Rada, the Opposition Platform – For Life.

Medvedchuk is a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin who is the godfather of one of Medvedchuk’s two daughters. They have met regularly over the years, even since Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014.

Viktor Medvedchuk previously headed other political projects and was even the head of the administration of the second president of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma.

During the Joint Forces Operation in the Donbas shortly after the first invasion, Medvedchuk participated in negotiations on releasing Ukrainian POWs, taking advantage, experts say, of his proximity to Putin.

In February 2021, the National Security and Defense Council imposed sanctions against Viktor Medvedchuk, which were put into effect by decree of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Opposition Platform – For Life called the sanctions “repression” and “destruction of democracy.”

In 2021, Medvedchuk was accused of high treason and of handing Ukrainian military secrets to Moscow.

He was captured in April 2022 by Ukraine’s special services, after fleeing house arrest in the wake of Russia’s full-scale attack.

Earlier this year Medvedchuk was one of four highly controversial political figures, stripped of their Ukrainian citizenship by President Zelensky, who said the move was entirely appropriate for those who “choose to serve not the people of Ukraine, but the murderers who came to Ukraine.”