The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has exposed 12 accomplices of former Ukrainian MP Viktor Medvedchuk. Medvedchukʼs previously detained associate Kyrylo Molchanov testified.
This was reported by SBU and the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office.
SBU has collected evidence against members of the organization "Drugaya Ukraina", which operates in Moscow under the guise of a "public association". Viktor Medvedchuk agreed to create a propaganda media project with Putin — the Kremlin leader instructed the FSB to coordinate this project.
Then Medvedchuk personally formed the "staff" of the pro-Kremlin association, which included top management and propagandists of the former Peopleʼs Deputyʼs sanctioned TV channels. Most of them left for the Russian Federation at the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
On Medvedchukʼs instructions, they prepared and distributed anti-Ukrainian content through controlled Telegram channels, YouTube, and the Kremlinʼs foreign mouthpiece “Voice of Europe”.
Subsequently, such messages were picked up by Kremlin propagandists for mass distribution on their information resources.
In addition, the investigation established that Medvedchuk personally finances the organization and interacts with the Putin administration and Russian government structures for this purpose.
Based on the evidence collected, investigators from the Security Service reported in absentia the suspicion of Medvedchuk and his "subordinates" hiding in Russia.
Here is the full list:
- Denys Zharkykh;
- Artem Marchevsky;
- Roman Kovalenko;
- Ruslan Kalinchuk;
- Jan Taxiur;
- Yuri Dudkin;
- Ruslan Kotsaba;
- Natalia Khoroshevska;
- Bohdan Hihanov;
- Oleh Yasinsky;
- Oleksandr Lazarev.
They are suspected of treason, collaborationist activities, public calls for a violent change of power, and justification of Russian aggression.
The aforementioned detained Medvedchuk associate Kyrylo Molchanov was separately informed of additional suspicion of working for enemy intelligence services. As the investigation established, he worked simultaneously for two intelligence services: the FSB and the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service. One of his “direct contacts” was the first deputy head of the Fifth Service of the Russian FSB, Lieutenant General Georgy Grishaev — correspondence was found on the suspect’s phone.
At the behest of the occupiers, Molchanov and his "colleagues" justified Russian aggression, discredited Ukraine on the international stage, and destabilized the internal situation in partner countries. Molchanov himself organized street protests in the EU in the interests of the Kremlin — he called for the curtailment of international support for Ukraine. According to the case materials, Viktor Medvedchuk personally led these activities.
Molchanov faces life imprisonment with confiscation of property.
- Molchanov was detained in Poland on April 1 of this year and is currently being held in a Kyiv pre-trial detention center. This is the first time a Russian agent working against the state in the information sphere has been handed over to Ukraine.
- Viktor Medvedchuk is a former MP, Putinʼs compadre. Ukraine suspects Medvedchuk of high treason. On September 22, 2022, Ukraine handed him over to Russia during a major exchange, when it was possible to return the commanders from “Azovstal”. Medvedchuk now lives in Russia with his family and has registered the public organization "Drugaya Ukraina" there.
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