MOSCOW, January 26. /TASS/. Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk said that establishing a government in exile is not being discussed and that it is necessary to build a future for Ukrainians.
"A government in exile? No problem. But once established, even if that happens, or has ever happened throughout history, a government in exile always stays in exile. It has always been this way. That’s not what we need. We need to destroy [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky’s ideology. He thinks that Ukraine is monolithic, [that] everyone supports him, supports the war. And there is no one who wants peace, or a different future for Ukrainians. What we believe is that these people exist and they are Ukrainians as well, they have the right to speak their minds. They have the right to be heard," Medvedchuk said in an interview with RT released on Thursday.
Opposition politician Medvedchuk, who was previously chairman of the political council of the opposition platform For Life, currently outlawed in Ukraine, has long been politically prosecuted in Ukraine. On April 12, 2022, Zelensky reported that Medvedchuk had been detained. He was charged with treason and violation of the laws of war. In late September, Medvedchuk left Ukraine as part of a detainee swap between Kiev and Moscow. Earlier, a Ukrainian court ruled to confiscate Medvedchuk’s assets. On January 10, Zelensky decided to strip Medvedchuk of his Ukrainian citizenship, and Ukrainian prosecutors said later they would not drop treason charges against him anyway.