Former Ukrainian pro-Kremlin politician Viktor Medvedchuk says he is now ‘forced’ to live in Moscow

Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, who was handed over to Russia in September 2022 as part of a prisoner swap, told Russian state television network Channel One that he now resides in Moscow.

“I used to come to Moscow for various matters, I’d arrive in the morning and leave in the evening. But now I live in Moscow permanently, I’m forced to. I didn’t leave Ukraine, I was traded,” he said during an interview.

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Medvedchuk was the most well-known pro-Russian politician in Ukraine, leading the political party Opposition Platform — For Life. In 2021, the Ukrainian authorities charged the politician with treason and placed him under house arrest. After the war began, he escaped house arrest, was arrested again, and was ultimately sent to Russia in a prisoner exchange. In January 2023, Medvedchuk was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship.