Press service of State Security Service of Ukraine/Handout via Reuters
- Putin ally Viktor Medvedchuk was captured by Ukrainian forces on Tuesday.
- Medvedchuk was charged with treason and put on house arrest when he escaped in February.
- Ukrainian officials said they seized 154 of his assets, including houses, apartments, and land.
Ukrainian authorities said on Thursday they seized assets belonging to Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian politician and Kremlin ally who was arrested earlier this week.
Medvedchuk was captured by Ukraine’s security services while trying to flee the country after escaping house arrest in February. Medvedchuk, who leads a pro-Russian opposition party, was charged with treason last year.
The Ukrainian politician is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is the godfather of Medvedchuk’s youngest daughter.
Medvedchuk was also thought to be Putin’s top choice for replacing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with a pro-Russia puppet leader if Russian forces had taken Kyiv. Ukraine even offered Russia Medvedchuk in exchange for Ukrainian prisoners — a proposal the Kremlin declined.
Ukrainian authorities said Thursday that they had seized 154 assets belonging to Medvedchuk, including 23 houses, 32 apartments, 30 plots of land, 26 cars, and one yacht, The Washington Post reported.
Medvedchuk was one of the richest people in Ukraine and worth an estimated $620 million, Forbes Ukraine reported last year. He owned three Ukrainian TV stations that were blocked in 2021 when Zelenskyy said they were spreading Russian propaganda and moved to freeze his assets.
Earlier this week, Ukrainian media reported a $200 million dollar yacht belonging to Medvedchuk was seized by government officials after having been docked in Croatia.
Ukrainian activists said last month they visited the mansion where Medvedchuk was on house arrest after he had escaped and that it featured a 19th-century railway dining car that included a gold-gilded toilet.
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