Ukraine has seized the assets of captured Putin ally Viktor Medvedchuk, including 50 homes, 26 cars, 30 plots of land, and one yacht

Authored by businessinsider.com and submitted by manticor225
image for Ukraine has seized the assets of captured Putin ally Viktor Medvedchuk, including 50 homes, 26 cars, 30 plots of land, and one yacht

Putin ally Viktor Medvedchuk was captured by Ukrainian forces on Tuesday.

Medvedchuk was charged with treason and put on house arrest when he escaped in February.

Ukrainian officials said they seized 154 of his assets, including houses, apartments, and land.

Sign up for our weekday newsletter, packed with original analysis, news, and trends — delivered right to your inbox. Loading Something is loading. Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Ukrainian authorities said on Thursday they seized assets belonging to Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian politician and Kremlin ally who was arrested earlier this week.

Medvedchuk was captured by Ukraine's security services while trying to flee the country after escaping house arrest in February. Medvedchuk, who leads a pro-Russian opposition party, was charged with treason last year.

The Ukrainian politician is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is the godfather of Medvedchuk's youngest daughter.

Medvedchuk was also thought to be Putin's top choice for replacing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with a pro-Russia puppet leader if Russian forces had taken Kyiv. Ukraine even offered Russia Medvedchuk in exchange for Ukrainian prisoners — a proposal the Kremlin declined.

Ukrainian authorities said Thursday that they had seized 154 assets belonging to Medvedchuk, including 23 houses, 32 apartments, 30 plots of land, 26 cars, and one yacht, The Washington Post reported.

Medvedchuk was one of the richest people in Ukraine and worth an estimated $620 million, Forbes Ukraine reported last year. He owned three Ukrainian TV stations that were blocked in 2021 when Zelenskyy said they were spreading Russian propaganda and moved to freeze his assets.

Earlier this week, Ukrainian media reported a $200 million dollar yacht belonging to Medvedchuk was seized by government officials after having been docked in Croatia.

Ukrainian activists said last month they visited the mansion where Medvedchuk was on house arrest after he had escaped and that it featured a 19th-century railway dining car that included a gold-gilded toilet.

sakurawaiver on April 14th, 2022 at 23:05 UTC »

Upkeep 50 homes sound is something I can never afford to do.

RektalTrauma on April 14th, 2022 at 22:56 UTC »

Why the fuck do you need 50 houses lmao

Sanhen on April 14th, 2022 at 22:56 UTC »

It feels like not a day goes by that I don't hear about a Russian yacht being seized.

I was curious if there was a list of all the ones taken and it seems there is: https://www.cnn.com/interactive/business/russian-oligarchs-yachts-real-estate-seizures/index.html

Edit: Seems that's not an exhaustive list though. 14 Russian Yachts were seized in the Netherlands alone: https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/politics/a39662661/russian-yachts-seized-netherlands-april-2022/