Thread by @P_Kallioniemi

In today's #vatnik soup I'll introduce a pro-Russian, Ukrainian oligarch and a politician who goes by the name of Viktor Medvedchuk.

Someone commented on one of my previous soups that I should cover Ukrainian oligarchs, too, so here's one!

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Medvechuk was a lawyer by profession, but quite terrible at that. He was known to being a defense lawyer during the 70s & 80s to various Ukrainian poets and Soviet dissidents, such as Yuriy Lytvyn, Vasyl Stus & Mikola Kuntsevich. They all were convicted and died in prison.

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Medvedchuk entered the Ukrainian parliament in 1997 and was even elected as the Chairman until he was dismissed in 2001 for abuse of power and biased treatment.

He was the main behind-the-scenes force of the pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych in the 2004 presidential election.
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His money comes from the same sources as most oligarchs: energy, resources and media. In 2008 Ukrainian magazine Focus estimated his fortune to be around 460 million USD.He used this wealth to defame Yanukovich's opponent, Viktor Yushchenko, in the 2004 presidential election.4/16

Yuschenko and his parties couldn't make any TV appearances as it was controlled by Yanukovich/Medvedchuk team so they had very little public exposure. Because of the pro-Russian president, Kuchma, they also weren't allowed to organize any public marches in Kyiv.

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In addition,Viktor launched a false flag operation,in which he would use an association called Ukrainian National Assembly (UNA), and a pro-Russian agitator called Eduard Kovalenko. UNA was a fringe, anti-Russian movement that fought against Russia's imperialistic endeavors. 6/16

They failed to hold any political power, but their volunteers allegedly fought in Transnistria and Georgia.

Already back in 2001, Ukrainian, pro-Russian president Leonid Kuchma had the group's leaders imprisoned and put Kovalenko in charge.

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Then, during the 2004 election Medvedchuk paid Kovalenko a "huge amount of money" so that he would organize a march supporting Yushchenko (against his wishes). This march included Nazi flags and far-right symbols, and Eduard even did a nazi salute during his speech.

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The goal of this false flag operation was the same as the "neo-nazis in Ukraine" narrative in 2022: discredit and defame the anti-Russian candidates to the Western audience.

Kovalenko was arrested by the SBU in Jan, 2021: khpg.org/en/1608808766

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Medvedchuk has been connected to the murder attempt of Ukrainian journalist, Tetiana Chornovol during the Euromaidan protests in Dec, 2013.

He has spoken against the EU, once comparing it to to Nazi Third Reich (they really love this nazi-angle, don't they?).

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Russia-controlled puppet states DPR and LPR have used Medvedchuk as a "neutral" negotiator on several occassions. Publicly Medvedchuk has been calling for returning the areas to Ukraine, while at the same time undermining the effort and working for Russia.

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In 2021, Medvedchuk was sanctioned by Ukraine for financing terrorism. It's been claimed that he funneled money to the DPR and LPR separatists. In May, 2021 Viktor was put on house arrest from which he escaped after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

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In April, 2022 he was re-captured and arrested. In Sep, 2022, he and 55 Russian POW's were handed to Russia in exchange for defenders of Mariupol, including several prominent Azov figures.

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This was considered a traitorous move by the Russian hardliners, as the main reason for the invasion was the destruction of Azov and "de-nazification" of Ukraine. Azov was defamed as a terrorist group by the Russian government in August, 2022.

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He was a potential candidate for leading Ukraine if the Russians would have captured Kyiv in their 3 day operation. Viktor was sanctioned by the US in 2014 for his alleged role in annexation of Crimea. His 200 million USD yacht, Royal Romance, was seized in Croatia in 2022. 15/16

His Bell 427 helicopter and Gulfstream jet are now helping the Ukrainian war effort.

Putin is the godfather of Viktor's youngest daughter, Darya.

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