Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stripped the citizenship of four prominent politicians, including pro-Kremlin Viktor Medvedchuk, who was sent to Russia as part of a prisoner swap last year. Zelenskyy announced the termination of citizenship for four people in his Tuesday night video address: Andriy Leonidovych Derkach, Taras Romanovych Kozak, Renat Raveliyovych Kuzmin, and Viktor Volodymyrovych Medvedchuk. If the people’s MPs in Ukraine chose to serve the foreign killers instead of the Ukrainian people, then our actions will be justified.
Medvedchuk was brought to Moscow in September after facing treason accusations in Ukraine for leading a pro-Russian organization that had been outlawed there; the Opposition Platform – For Life. He first met Putin in 2003, and he later oversaw the presidential campaign of Viktor Yanukovich, a staunch ally of Russia. When Yanukovich won the election in 2004, pro-Western activists in Ukraine claimed that Medvedchuk had rigged the vote to put Yanukovich in power. This led to the Orange Revolution. A loss in a runoff election to Medvedchuk’s adversary, Viktor Yushchenko, ended his political career for the time being, but he quickly began building a media empire that would encompass three television networks and a number of newspapers and magazines. His ability to flee without being stopped by Zelenskyy’s administration during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February was interpreted as evidence of the government’s vulnerability during the chaotic and unclear early days of the conflict. Captured in April, he is being held on charges of high treason for allegedly trying to take resources from Russia-annexed Crimea and for giving Ukrainian military secrets to Moscow. In September, he was among more than 50 convicts exchanged for 215 Ukrainian servicemen held in Russian prisons. As members of Medvedchuk’s party, Kozak and Kuzmin were elected to the Ukrainian parliament.
After Kyiv requested his arrest on treason charges, the United States slapped sanctions against Kozak, the owner of three TV networks, in January 2022 for allegedly promoting Russian disinformation. Ukraine has levelled high treason charges against Kuzmin as well. Derkach, a politician in Ukraine who is sanctioned by the United States, was arrested in the United States in December on charges of money laundering and sanctions breaches. He was accused of being a Russian spy and of aiding Russia in interfering with the 2020 US presidential election.
