Medvedchuk Faces New Charges
Viktor Medvedchuk, a former Ukrainian politician, is facing new legal allegations for his public support of Ukraine joining Russia. Investigators claim he collaborated with unidentified individuals as part of a registered Russian public organization called “International Public Movement for the Development of Civil Society ‘Another Ukraine'” and the associated pro-Russian media project.
According to the investigation, Medvedchuk stated in an interview with German journalist Thomas Röper for the YouTube channel NuoFlix, that the “only way forward for the future of Ukrainians” is integration with Russia. He emphasized that the “process that began in 2014—Sevastopol, Crimea, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk—must continue.” This content was further disseminated on the aforementioned site, “Another Ukraine,” which he controls.
Additionally, in a publication dated January 18, 2026, titled “Viktor Medvedchuk: Ukraine Needs External Governance Under the UN’s Auspices,” he suggested that if Ukrainian territories are defined only by language criteria, then “Russia’s borders will be near the Ivano-Frankivsk region and not further east,” and he called for the “return of historical Russian lands along with their populations.”
The investigation has classified his actions under two articles of the Ukrainian Criminal Code: Part 2 of Article 110 (public calls for altering Ukraine’s borders in violation of the Constitution, committed repeatedly and in conspiracy with a group of individuals) and Part 2 of Article 28, Part 3 of Article 436-2 (justification and denial of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine that began in 2014, as well as glorification of its participants, also committed repeatedly and in conspiracy with a group of persons using media).
Context
- In May 2021, Medvedchuk was charged with treason and attempted embezzlement of national resources.
- He was under house arrest, but according to his lawyer, the electronic bracelet was removed in the fall of 2021. On February 27, 2022, he fled. On April 12, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) had detained Medvedchuk while he attempted to leave Ukraine. On April 16, a court ordered him to be remanded in custody without bail.
- In September, Medvedchuk was transferred to Russia as part of a large prisoner exchange. In January 2023, it was revealed that Zelensky stripped him of Ukrainian citizenship, which led to Medvedchuk losing his seat in the Verkhovna Rada.
