On Tuesday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj handcuffed a picture of the pro-Russian politician and oligarch of Ukraine Viktor Medvedchuk.

The 67-year-old man, one of Ukraine’s richest figures, is a close ally of Putin and is accused by Ukraine of treason. From May 2021 to February this year, he was placed under house arrest in Kyiv.

Hours after the photo was shared, Zelensky proposed in a video speech on Telegram to conduct a prisoner swap with Medvedchuk and Ukrainian prisoners of war.

But senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, Flemming Splidsboel Hansen, is among those who doubt whether Medvedtsjuk has any real value to Putin anymore.

“Prince of Darkness”

Viktor V. Medvedchuk, often referred to as the “dark prince” in Ukrainian politics, has long had a tendency to appear in places where only a few of Putin’s closest circles are allowed to attend.

The 67-year-old has built up the oil and media industries, and has been a staunch ally of Putin in Ukraine for two decades, after which several of them became leaders of the pro-Russian opposition group “For Life”.

Based on Guard Medvedch and Putin are also said to have vacationed together repeatedly, both at Putin’s holiday home in Sochi and at Medvedchuk’s villa on the Crimean peninsula.

– Consider removing Putin

Putin will also be the godfather of Medvedchuk’s daughter Darjana.

In 2021, the Ukrainian oligarchs were accused of treason for allegedly selling military secrets to Russia and exploiting the natural resources of the Crimean peninsula during the Russian occupation.

Medvedtsjuk himself denies this.

– Appointed by Putin

During peace talks in eastern Ukraine in early 2015, Medvedchuk was present on behalf of then Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and the Ukrainian security services.

This led analysts even later to suspect that Putin’s goal was to give Medvedchuk a leadership role for all of Ukraine or for eastern Ukraine.

According to The Guardian, some experts have cited the Ukrainian government’s treatment of Medvedchuk as one of the contributing factors to Putin’s attacks on Ukraine.

In recent years, several pro-Russian TV stations have been shut down and his family assets confiscated, before he was placed under house arrest in Kyiv for treason.

– He sees the Kremlin as his main person in Ukraine, his main interlocutor, says a former Russian public official who also knows Medvedchuk until the Guardian.

– Mariupol is about to fall

– Medvedtsjuk is a legitimate way they can imagine their future influence over Ukraine, the former official who spoke anonymously to the newspaper continued.

Shortly before the Russian invasion, US intelligence again claimed that Medvedchuk had been chosen by Russia to lead a puppet government when the Zelensky government fell, writes The Guardian.

Refuse bond

When the oligarchs disappeared from house arrest days after the Russians began the invasion, many believed that Russian special forces had managed to evacuate them to Russia.

That’s why many are surprised when someone’s photos are captured Medvedtsjuk published by Zelenskyj this week.

Russia’s former president, Dmitry Medvedev, quickly lashed out at the arrests and threatened Ukrainian authorities with retaliation. However, on Wednesday, the Kremlin responded by saying that Putin had no special relationship with Medvedchuk.

“Medvedjuk has never had secret relations with Russia,” Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, told a news conference.

If that was the case, Medvedev would have left Ukraine before war broke out, Peskov claims. Nor is he sure if Medvedchuk wants Russian help to get out of the “situation” he is in.

– Regarding the prisoner exchange, many people in Kyiv have talked about it with great enthusiasm, passion and joy: Medvedchuk is not a Russian citizen and has nothing to do with this military operation. He is a foreign politician, Peskov continued according to The Guardian.

Doubtful barter

Flemming Splidsboel Hansen argued that the Medvedtsjuk in principle could no longer be used by Russia as the leader of a puppet government.

Their plan was A smoking, he thought.

– Medvedchuk couldn’t become president of Ukraine, he couldn’t play any role in Ukraine after that. He’s done, said the senior researcher to Danish Extra Knife.

Don’t look at your husband

That what many think is plan A, smoke, may have changed Putin’s willingness to help Medvedchuk, said Splidsboel Hansen, who is thus not convinced that Russia wants him anymore.

Therefore, he would not be surprised if Russia refused to swap prisoners.

However, he opened up the possibility that Putin would help his friend out of the situation he was in, and that Russia’s move now would show how close relations between Putin and Medvedchuk really are.

– We have the impression that Putin basically doesn’t care about a lot of people. I’m not sure that their relationship is that close in terms of drama, Splidsboel Hansen told the newspaper.