Medvedchuk was exchanged for 200 Ukrainian defenders, - SSU

Of the 215 prisoners who were rescued from Russian captivity, 200 defenders were directly exchanged for Viktor Medvedchuk. Acting the Head of the SSU, Vasyl Maliuk, personally met the released Ukrainians in the Chernihiv region during the exchange procedure, which was organized under the leadership of the Office of the President.

As Censor.NET informs, this was reported by the press service of the SSU.

"Medvedchuk is not just Putin's best man, but a high-quality state traitor documented by us. His guilt is fully recorded in the relevant materials collected by the SSU. In addition, while working on the Medvedchuk case, we neutralized more than one agent network, detained many state traitors, and obtained a large amount of important information that we use in counterintelligence activities. And now, thanks to the exchange, we were able to extract from Russian captivity the heroes who are waiting for them at home," said Vasyl Maliuk.

He emphasized that the exchange of Viktor Medvedchuk for Ukrainian defenders does not prevent consideration of his cases in court: "This applies to decision-making, sentencing, and confiscation of seized property. After all, in such a case, the procedure of a special trial is applied in the absence of the accused."

Vasyl Maliuk added that the exchange became possible thanks to changes to the current legislation, which regulated the relevant legal mechanisms.

So, in order to save the lives and health of our defenders, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War decided to carry out the exchange. Medvedchuk himself also gave his consent to this. So the court granted the request of the prosecutor.

Acting as the Head of the SSU noted that despite the difficult negotiations, the exchange was successful. After all, Ukraine returns much more defenders than the Russians give.

"The efforts made by many people from various departments over many months have been crowned with success. And this is a great merit of the Coordination Headquarters. Thank you to everyone who participated in this exchange, and especially to the Head of State Volodymyr Zelensky, the head of the President's Office Andrii Yermak," emphasized Vasyl Malyuk.

He noted the important role of each state body involved in the return of prisoners: the President's Office, the Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces, the Defence Intelligence, the Ministry of Reintegration, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the State Emergency Service, and others.

Acting The head of the SSU reminded that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, a total of 20 such releases took place, as a result of which it was possible to return 802 prisoners from captivity.

Also remind, that Viktor Medvedchuk was previously informed of suspicion under part 1 of article 111 (treason), part 1 of article 258-3 (supporting a terrorist organization), and part 1 of article 438 (looting national values) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The investigation established that Medvedchuk, acting in prior collusion with the then President of Ukraine, the Minister of Energy and Coal Industry, and other persons, agreed with the members of the "L/DPR" terrorist organizations and organized their supply of coal from the temporarily occupied territories, beginning in November 2014. Thus, he contributed to the financing of terrorists.

Comprehensive evidence was collected (testimony of witnesses, telephone conversations, expert opinions, material evidence) of the involvement and guilt of V. Medvedchuk and other suspects in particularly serious crimes against Ukraine.

In another criminal proceeding, it was established that Medvedchuk passed on information about the location of the military unit of the Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense, its covert combat training, personnel, etc., to representatives of the Russian special services. This harmed Ukraine's defense capabilities.

In addition, in November 2020, Viktor Medvedchuk took an active part in the development of the anti-Ukrainian project: "Promin", the task of which was to strengthen the influence of the special services of the aggressor country on the political situation in Ukraine.

Medvedchuk also committed several illegal actions against Ukraine in the interests of the Russian Federation, aimed at plundering national values (oil and gas) worth more than UAH 38 billion in the temporarily occupied Crimea.

It should be noted that currently the property of Medvedchuk and his wife have been seized. In particular, we are talking about: