Putin’s confidant and Ukrainian opposition politician Viktor Medvedchuk reports from exile. Earlier this year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stripped him of his Ukrainian citizenship for high treason. Now Medvedchuk has published an article in the Russian newspaper “Izvestia”. In it, he apparently speaks of establishing a Ukrainian government-in-exile to oppose Zelensky’s government. This is reported by the American think tank “Carnegie Endowment for International Peace”.
Medvedchuk repeats Putin’s accusations against the West, accusing the “ungrateful Ukrainian public” of “selling their Slav brotherhood to the West” and reminding readers “that the industrialized Donbass region has long fed the rest of the country”.
The former leader of the pro-Russian party “Opposition Platform – For Life” is a key figure for Putin in relation to Ukraine. He was charged with treason in Ukraine in 2021 and placed under house arrest. In September 2022, he came to Russia as part of a prisoner exchange. You can read more about Viktor Medvedchuk here.
Still, it is doubtful that Medvedchuk could become a unifying figure even in pro-Russian Ukrainian emigrant circles. Because Medvedchuk “has a reputation as a master of behind-the-scenes intrigue,” but was “never particularly effective” in this regard, according to the “Carnegie Endowment.”
Since 2015, Russia has been trying to set up a “kind of Ukrainian government-in-exile” and this latest attempt is unlikely to be “more successful than previous attempts”. At most, this government-in-exile could assume the role of a kind of recruitment center that recruits people “to work in the puppet governments in the occupied territories of Ukraine”.
According to the Carnegie Endowment, this “recent resurgence of the old idea of a good Ukraine” shows Russia mired in a political impasse. In any case, Zelensky refuses to comply with Russian demands and the West supports the Ukrainian armed forces with increasing stockpiles of weapons.
Medvedchuk’s return to the political scene could therefore also indicate preparations for a major new offensive that Russia is reportedly planning. Medvedchuk could be portrayed as a political figure, a kind of bringer of peace, spreading the story of the “evil west” in Ukraine.
(dpa/tonline)
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
