Medvedchuk’s stepson hired Ukrainian police to guard his house – Bihus

Olena Roschina — Thursday, 21 April 2022, 13:22

Pro-Russian politician and intimate friend of Vladimir Putin’s, Victor Medvedchuk, who was under investigation for treason in Ukraine escaped from house arrest in Kyiv on the eve of Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine. On 24 March, his stepson Bohdan hired the Ukrainian police to guard Medvedchuk’s house on 24 Medvynska St. in Kyiv.

Source: Bihus.Info 

Details: According to Medvedchuk’s guard Andriy Taran who was apprehended by the Security Service of Ukraine, Medvedchuk escaped on 23 February after 1 am with the assistance from the Russian FSB. After leaving 24 Medvynska St., the politician was hiding in 11B Yaslynska St. in Kyiv.

Based on this, the security police was not present at the house on Medvynska St. at the time of Medvedchuk’s escape.

Medvedchuk has been using paid services of the security police for many years, in addition to private guards from the notorious Shtorm company known for inhibiting journalist investigations. The security police accompanied Medvedchuk himself and had contracts to guard his mansions.

The Chief of the Security Police Department Serhii Parfeniuk said that the contract to provide personal protection services to Medvedchuk was terminated when Ukraine’s Security and Defence Council imposed sanctions on the politician (February 2021 р. – ed.), while the contract to guard the Medvynska St. property was signed one month after Medvedchuk’s escape.

"Since the moment when he was sanctioned by the RNBO (Security and Defence Council – ed.), the security police have not been guarding him. This house, we took under our protection on 24 March. The contract was signed on 24 March," said Parfeniuk.

According to him, the offer came from the son of Medvedchuk’s wife Oksana Marchenko, Bohdan.

Journalists saw that at the end of March the Medvynska St. house looked abandoned, but on 2 April someone was seen there.

Journalists further discovered that the security police was present at another mansion of Medvedchuk’s in Zakarpattia – the so-called "dacha-type" property "Vedmezha Hora" in Zhdenievo. 

The contract with the police to guard "Vedmezha Hora", according to Bihus.Info, is dated 1 June 2021.

Background: Security police is a subdivision of the National Police of Ukraine that provides paid services to guard individuals and property. Aside from Medvedchuk, they also guarded another pro-Russian politician Andriy Portnov who was sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury in 2021.