Detained pro-Russian lawmaker Viktor Medvedchuk was in Kyiv the whole time ever since he escaped house arrest on Feb. 23, a day before Russia’s renewed invasion of the country.
He was detained on April 12 in Kyiv region while traveling in a car allegedly headed for the border of the Moldovan breakaway region of Transnistria, Ivan Bakanov, head of the Security Service (SBU), said on Ukrainian television.
A group of Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agents were supposed to then take Medvedchuk to Moscow.
The escape route for Medvedchuk, who is a close confidante of Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin, was allegedly hatched by the FSB, Bakanov said. They in turn allegedly recruited the help of the criminal underworld and corrupt law enforcement officers, the SBU chief added.
A video was released by the SBU of one of the politician’s personal bodyguards, Andriy Taran, who said he overheard Medvedchuk talking with his wife in Russia that the FSB would secure his escape.
Taran had helped Medvedchuk flee house arrest and was one of two bodyguards at the safe house protecting him up until he tried leaving the country.
On the day of Medvedchuk’s final attempt to flee, the bodyguard said, a man dressed in black arrived at the Kyiv residence. He carried a yellow bag that was given to Medvedchuk. After about 10 minutes, the politician reemerged dressed in a Ukrainian military uniform, a balaclava and cap.
Two cars waited outside, according to the bodyguard and the politician got into one of them. Before departing, Medvedchuk said goodbye with the words “thank you, wait for further instructions,” the bodyguard said.
Medvedchuk faces treason and terrorism-financing charges. In 2014, the United States sanctioned him for his role in Russia’s forcible seizure of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.
