For Kyiv, he was the number one traitor. Viktor Medvedchuk, deputy and leader of the proRussian opposition “Opposition for Life”, was arrested in a special operation by the Ukrainian secret service. On the official profiles of the authorities, his photo in camouflage color sitting and handcuffed, the blank stare and tousled hair bouncy like a trophy. Because the Ukrainian oligarch of Russian origin, who is considered to be close to Putin, is one of the symbols of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s “internal enemies”. What’s more, he’s the man who would have loved to have stolen his chair. A fugitive from the early days of the invasion, after escaping house arrest and facing charges of treason for supporting separatist forces in the Donbass, he was seen as one of the possible candidates to lead a puppet government should Moscow succeed conquer Kyiv. As an entrepreneur active in many fields, including energy and media, he would have come to the point of unofficially looking after Putin’s interests in the country. News of his capture immediately rebounded to Moscow, where Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov hid behind a “no comment” and stated that he could not confirm any arrest at the moment, which could become very embarrassing for the Kremlin, itself for the possible strategic and military secrets guarded by Medvedchuk. His arrest comes as Kyiv confirms it has drawn up a list of 100 “traitors” to the fatherland. “The National Agency for Corruption Prevention and the NGO Honest Movement have registered 73 politicians, 13 law enforcement officials, 13 media and one judge.” The list includes data on suspected collaborators from 14 regions of Ukraine, while 637 cases have already been opened. Initiatives favored by the law passed by the parliament of Kyiv on March 3 last year, ten days after the start of the war, “which criminalizes cooperation with the Russian invader. The procedure for reporting the “traitors”, it is explained, has several phases. “Before adding an individual to the list, Honest Movement verifies the name and actively works with law enforcement and public organizations to verify the information, then adds them and the list can be viewed on the web.” A register published in 4 Categories is divided into: politicians, judges and lawyers, media and law enforcement agencies. The NGO itself “continues to seek collaborators and encourages anyone with information to share.”
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