A pro-Putin Ukrainian fugitive who escaped while under house arrest in Kyiv on charges of treason has been re-arrested by Ukraine’s SBU security service, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday. Viktor Medvedchuk, an oligarch and former leader of a pro-Russian Ukrainian party, has disappeared from his home confinement following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested in his overnight speech on Tuesday that Medvedchuk could trade with Ukrainian “boys and girls now in Russian captivity,” according to BBC News. In a separate statement, Ukraine’s security service said: “You can be a pro-Russian politician and work for the aggressor state for years. You may be hiding from justice recently. You can even wear a Ukrainian military camouflage uniform. It helps you “Do you escape punishment? Not at all! You are in bondage and the same is true for traitors in Ukraine like you.” In this image provided by the Press Office of the Ukrainian Presidential Bureau, oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, who is also the former leader of a pro-Russian opposition party and a close ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, sits with a clenched fist conducted by the country’s SBU security service, Tuesday, April 12, 2022, in Ukraine. (Press Office of the Ukrainian Presidential Press via AP) RUSSIA INVASES UKRAINE: LIVE UPDATES Zelenskyy posted a photo of Medvedchuk in handcuffs wearing a Ukrainian military uniform on Tuesday. The fugitive oligarch and close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin Viktor Medvetsuk appears in handcuffs after a special operation carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine in Ukraine on April 12, 2022. (Photo by the Security Service of Ukraine via Images) Russian President Vladimir Putin is the godfather of Medvedchuk’s youngest daughter. Medvenchuk was among those considered by Russia to replace Zelensky if they had succeeded in ousting the Ukrainian president, according to Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin. In this video image provided by the Presidential Press Office of Ukraine, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks from Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. (Press Office of the Ukrainian Presidential Press via AP) CLICK HERE TO RECEIVE THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION Medvenchuk denied the allegations, calling them “political repression.” He was arrested last year after years of tolerance in Ukraine because he was considered important for relations with Moscow, according to the BBC.
