Russian Duma speaker threatens Zelensky “if something bad happens” to arrested Putin’s ally Medvedchuk

The head of the Russian Dum Vyacheslav Volodin says that if something bad happens to the arrested opposition politician and Oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky would bear responsibility for this. 

Medvedchuk,  Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in Ukraine, was arrested earlier this week on treason charges. 

“Zelensky handcuffed his opponent. Is this a political freedom in Ukraine?  But the United States and the European Union are silent. If something happens to Medvedchuk, Zelensky will be held accountable for this,”Volodin said.

He called Merdedchuk Zelensky’s “number one competitor,” noting that the former supported the building of an “independent Ukraine and a neutral state”, while Zelensky “danced to the beat of the United States.”

“It was the key reason Washington and Brussels do not support Medvedchuk. .Zelensky is trying to portray him as a traitor by handcuffs,” Volodin said.

The Kremlin said yesterday that they “did not see the possibility” to swap Medvedchuk for Ukrainian captives, as it was proposed by Zelensky. 

 

Zelensky himself posted the photo of Medvedchuk in handcuffs shortly after the arrest and dressed in army fatigues with a Ukrainian flag patch. 

 

“If Medvedchuk himself chose to wear the military uniform,  it means that he is subject to the rules of war. I propose to the Russian Federation: exchange  your boy for our boys and girls who are now in captivity. It is important that our law enforcement agencies and the military consider this possibility,” Zelensky said. 

 

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. 

 

Hostilities have been in progress since then.