Adviser to Head of the President’s Office of Ukraine Mykhailo Podoliak said that Ukrainian businessman and MP Viktor Medvedchuk does not have a status that allows him to influence possible bilateral negotiations between the presidents of Ukraine and Russia.
“Medvedchuk is not a sufficient status figure to have an impact on bilateral not very good relations between Russia and Ukraine, negotiations [between Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin]. It is categorically not worth tying them to any person,” Podoliak said in an interview with the Ukraine 24 television channel.
According to him, negotiations on holding a meeting between Zelensky and Putin continue at the level of the administrations of the heads of state.
“The question is not when the meeting will take place, but whether we will be able to put into the agenda of the meeting a certain number of complex issues that need to be resolved and have been accumulating for almost seven years. This is not only a war, but also economic relations, political, and also the lack of direct communication at the level of the heads of certain public institutions,” he said.
“That is, we do not communicate, although we are neighbors,” Podoliak said.
He also said the “Medvedchuk case” is a challenge for the entire judicial system of Ukraine.
“Medvedchuk’s case is a test for reformatting the judicial system. We will see if it is ready to behave regardless of political or economic influence. This is the president’s key idea regarding judicial reform. This is not just reform for the sake of reform,” the adviser to the head of the President’s Office.
He said that “Medvedchuk is only the first challenge,” but there are still many subjects of such economic and political influence in Ukraine.
“His case must reach its logical conclusion. He must answer for everything not only from the point of view of media propaganda, but from the point of view of obtaining economic assets with the help of the administrative resource,” Podoliak said.
