Ukrainian authorities charged pro-Russian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk in absentia with illegal seizure of the Samara-Western direction oil pipeline section several years ago, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on July 24.
Once Russian President Vladimir Putin's key ally in the Ukrainian political landscape, Medvedchuk was arrested and released to Russia during a prisoner exchange in late 2022.
Kyiv charged the pro-Russian oligarch with high treason in 2021 and stripped him of citizenship and seat in the parliament two years later.
According to the SBU, Medvedchuk and four other suspects – former managers of the Prykarpatzakhidtrans company – began a scheme in 2015 to seize the Ukrainian section of the Samara-Western direction oil pipeline, later known as "Medvedchuk's pipe," from the state ownership.
Medvedchuk managed to overturn a court ruling that granted the state the membership of the pipeline and secured its transfer to a Swiss company, controlled by one of the other suspects.
Participants of the scheme then managed the pipeline's operations through the Prykarpatzakhidtrans company and split the profits among themselves. According to the SBU, the scheme involved the leadership of both Ukraine and Russia.
Medvedchuk gave testimony about the scheme during his detention in 2022, claiming that then-President Petro Poroshenko played an important role and benefited from the illicit privatization.
Poroshenko's lawyers and his European Solidarity party dismissed the accusations.
Investigation into the privatization was launched in 2017, and in January 2024, Ukraine's Supreme Court recognized state ownership over the pipeline.
Mevdedchuk was charged with illegal seizure of property, abuse of authority, and related charges. Investigation into other possible suspects is ongoing.
Dmytro Basmat
(Updated: )
