KYIV (AFP) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky offered on Wednesday (April 13) to swop pro-Kremlin tycoon Viktor Medvedchuk, who was arrested by Kyiv after escaping house arrest, for Ukrainians captured by Russia.
Medvedchuk, 67, counts Russian President Vladimir Putin among his personal friends and says the Kremlin leader is godfather to his youngest daughter Darya.
"I propose to the Russian Federation to exchange this guy of yours for our boys and our girls who are now in Russian captivity," Zelensky said in a video address posted on Telegram.
"And may Medvedchuk be an example for you. Even the former oligarch did not escape. What can we say about much simpler criminals from the Russian hinterland? We will get everyone."
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Medvedchuk had “nothing to do with the special military operation.
“He is a foreign politician,” he told reporters, adding that the Kremlin was not aware if Medvedchuk wanted Moscow to be involved.
“Medvedchuk has never had any behind-the-scenes relations with Russia,” Peskov said, implying that he would otherwise have left Ukraine before Moscow sent in troops.
Ukrainian authorities announced on Tuesday they had captured a prominent pro-Kremlin tycoon who escaped from house arrest after Russia's invasion.
Russia on Wednesday also told Ukraine to "watch out" after its former Soviet neighbour captured pro-Kremlin politician Medvedchuk, warning that those holding him might soon be detained themselves.
“Those freaks who call themselves the Ukrainian authorities say that they want to beat testimony out of Viktor Medvedchuk, ‘quickly and fairly’, convict him, and then exchange him for prisoners,” Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said.
“These people should watch out and lock the doors well at night to make sure they do not become the people who are going to be exchanged themselves,” said Medvedev, a close Putin ally who served as Russian president from 2008 to 2012.
Zelensky posted a picture online of a dishevelled-looking Medvedchuk with his hands in cuffs and dressed in a Ukrainian army uniform.
"A special operation was carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine. Well done!" Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
Security agency chief Ivan Bakanov said agents had carried out a "lightning-fast and dangerous multi-level special operation to detain" the Russia-friendly lawmaker.
Medvedchuk, one of the richest people in Ukraine, is a hugely controversial figure for his close ties to Moscow.
He was being held under house arrest since last year on treason charges over accusations of attempting to steal natural resources from Russia-annexed Crimea and of handing Ukrainian military secrets to Moscow.
