Multiple properties belonging to pro-Russian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk and his wife Oksana Marchenko have not yet been seized by the Ukrainian state, investigative outlet Bihus.info reported on Nov. 2.
Medvedchuk, who was long thought to be Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s right-hand man in Ukraine, was charged with high treason and placed under house arrest in 2021, only to flee as Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
The oligarch was subsequently re-arrested in April 2022. In September, he was handed over to Russia as part of a prisoner exchange. Marchenko is sanctioned by the U.K. government and is on a Ukrainian wanted list.
The couple no longer live in Ukraine, but their real estate portfolio includes a spa hotel in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, a holiday home in the Carpathian mountains, and property in Kyiv, Bihus reported.
While Marchenko's Kyiv property has been seized, she is still the official owner. The property has therefore not yet officially been handed over to the state, and security guards are still employed.
The investigative journalists pointed out that despite the "blocking all assets of Medvedchuk and Marchenko, they apparently manage to pay for the services of the security guards."
Similar security arrangements were found to be documented at the other properties belonging to Medvedchuk and Marchenko that have been seized, but not yet fully confiscated.
Some of their land has been confiscated, however. A Kyiv court ruled in May in favor of confiscating the land on the Dnipro River bank owned by Marchenko.
According to the prosecution, the land was privatized illegally and will now be returned to the state. The Kyiv Regional Prosecutor's Office claimed the state's right for the 9.5 hectares of forest land, worth over Hr 204 million ($5.6 million).
