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Ukrainian security service says it detained opposition party leader Medvedchuk

A similar statement was released by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky earlier in the day

KIEV, April 12. /TASS/. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on Tuesday it had detained Viktor Medvedchuk, the head of the political council of the Opposition Platform - For Life party.

The official Telegram account of the security agency posted a photo of a person who bears visual resemblance to Medvedchuk. The man is wearing uniform and is handcuffed.

In the attached note, SBU chief Ivan Bakanov thanked officers for the "special operation to detain Medvedchuk, who is - for now - people’s deputy."

A similar statement was released by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky earlier in the day.

He gave no further information about the arrest, saying that additional details will be published later.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the news should be verified due to a large number of fake reports coming from the Kiev government.

In May 2021, Medvedchuk was charged with high treason and "violation of laws and customs of war." He was placed under house arrest, and the measure has since been extended several times.

More charges against the opposition leader were filed in October 2021, namely another count of state treason and assisting terrorist activities. According to investigators, he was involved in supplies of coal from Donbass areas outside the Kiev governemnt’s control in late 2014 - early 2015, worth about $7.6 million. Medvedchuk condemned all charges as politically motivated and ungrounded.

On February 27, Medvedchuk’s attorney Larisa Cherednichenko said the oppositioner left his home in Kiev, where he was staying under house arrest, fearing for his life amid threats from nationalist groups. However, in her words, he remained in the Ukrainian capital. On March 18, a Ukrainian court arrested Medvedchuk in absentia and put him on the wanted list.

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