At a press conference in Moscow, Viktor Medvedchuk’s wife, Oksana Marchenko, said that one of the two photos released by Ukraine this week showed that she had been beaten. Reuters could not confirm this independently, and neither the Ukrainian security service, the SBU, nor the Kremlin responded immediately to requests for comment. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register On Wednesday, Dmitry Medvedev, Russia ‘s vice – president of the Security Council, said: prisoners “. read more The SBU announced on Tuesday that it had arrested Medvedchuk, who has long advocated closer ties with Russia and is the leader of the Opposition Platform – For Life party. The party is the largest opposition party in Ukraine. A photo of him in handcuffs was posted on the official account of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on the Telegram and another was posted by the SBU on Facebook. read more Displaying the two photos, Marchenko said one had been taken before being questioned and showed no signs of injury. A second image, which he said was taken during interrogation, showed him with his hair over his forehead. “He shows great bruising and marks that they tried to hide with his hair. There is no doubt that he was beaten in the first hours after his arrest,” he said. This photo shows what could have been a mark on his forehead under a hair, although Reuters could not identify what caused it. Three days after Russia transferred its forces to Ukraine on February 24, Ukraine said Medvedchuk had escaped from house arrest. He was placed under house arrest in May 2021 and charged with high treason and later aiding and abetting terrorism. The pro-Russian figure, who says Putin is his daughter’s godfather, has denied any wrongdoing. The head of the SBU said on Wednesday that Medvedchuk had planned to escape from Ukraine by secretly crossing into the breakaway region of Transnistria Moldova, but that his plan had been thwarted. Marchenko said she wanted to know where her husband was, to protect himself from the abuse and to provide him with medical care and access to his lawyer. Zelensky proposed the exchange of Medvedchuk with Ukrainian prisoners held by Russian forces. Russia on Wednesday rejected the offer, warning that those holding him could soon be arrested. read more Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Reuters Edited by Francis Carey and Howard Goller Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
