Another breaking news came after Zelenskiy made a swap offer to Putin by publishing photos of him in custody in front of the whole world. Oksana Marchenko, the wife of pro-Russian Viktor Medvedchuk, who was detained in Ukraine, requested help from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the second time. Marchenko asks President Erdogan to meet with Zelenski for his wife’s release.
Oksana Marchenko, the wife of Ukrainian opposition deputy Viktor Medvedchuk, who is known for her closeness to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said, “I believe that a strong leader like Erdogan can influence Zelensky, who is a weak leader. President Erdogan heard me and my wife told the Ukrainian Security Service. I’m sure he will do anything to get rid of the iron bars.”
Medvedchuk is the leader of the Opposition Platform for Life, Ukraine’s largest opposition party. Before the war, he was accused of treason and placed under house arrest. He escaped with the onset of the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on April 12 that Medvedchuk was captured by a special operation of the Ukrainian intelligence service. He made a prisoner exchange proposal to Russia. Medvedchuk’s wife, Oksana Marchenko, has not heard from her husband since then.
Marchenko, who held a press conference in Moscow, announced that he had sent a letter to the parliaments of many countries. He also called on Erdogan to step in for the release of his wife.
Thinking that her husband was tortured, Marchenko said, “They will torture him or they have already done so. We do not know where my wife is at the moment. This makes it impossible to provide appropriate legal protection or medical care.”
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskiy announced that the leader of the main opposition party, Viktor Medvedchuk, known for his closeness to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was detained. He said he had been detained.
Viktor Medvedchuk has close ties to Putin. Russian President Putin is the godfather of Medvedchuk’s youngest daughter, Daria.
After Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, the United States added Medvedchuk to its sanctions list. After the annexation, he played a role as a mediator in areas under the control of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. However, Medvedçuk’s assets were frozen last year on the grounds that he was funding terrorism. Three television channels, which were stated to be affiliated with him, were also shut down on the grounds that they were making pro-Kremlin propaganda. Medvedçuk described the accusations against him as “political pressure”.