Zelensky Strips Putin Ally of Ukrainian Citizenship

Pro-Russia politician Viktor Medvedchuk was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Medvedchuk, a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, served as the leader of Ukraine's Opposition Platform – For Life party, and was long considered the Kremlin's right-hand man in Ukraine.

Medvedchuk has also said that Putin is the godfather to his daughter, and The Guardian reported in April that the duo have regularly taken vacations together.

Zelensky announced during his nightly address Tuesday that Medvedchuk and three other Ukrainian politicians would be stripped of their citizenship, adding that the decision was based on evidence acquired by the country's Security Service and State Migration Service.

"If people's deputies choose to serve not the people of Ukraine, but the murderers who came to Ukraine, our actions will be appropriate," Zelensky said.

"And these are not the last such decisions," he added. "The services are working."

In April, Ukrainian officials arrested Medvedchuk after the opposition leader had escaped house arrest just days before Russia invaded Ukraine. At the time, authorities had previously opened a treason case against him.

Medvedchuk was released to Russia in September, however, in exchange for over 200 prisoners of war, reported The New York Times. According to a report from The Guardian, the Kremlin had originally dismissed Ukraine's exchange offer for Medvedchuk's freedom shortly after his arrest.

Other Ukrainian politicians who lost their citizenship include Andrii Derkach, who has been charged with treason for allegedly receiving funds from Russian intelligence agencies to create private security firms to aid Russia's capture of Ukraine, reported the Kyiv Independent on Tuesday.

Pro-Russia leaders Taras Kozak and Renat Kuzmin, whom the Independent described as allies of Medvedchuk, were also stripped of their citizenship Tuesday, per Zelensky's address.

Ukraine's Security Service, also referred to as the SBU, has made it a priority to sniff out Russian propaganda and pro-Kremlin sympathizers since the Kremlin's invasion in February.

On the agency's Facebook page Tuesday, the SBU reported that it had "exposed more than 600 Russian agents and spies" since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war, and 340 criminal investigations relating to charges of treason and espionage were "headed to court."

Some of Zelensky's methodology to limit opposition voices has raised questions about his commitment to democratic values.

At the end of 2022, the Ukrainian president signed a controversial law that would expand the government's regulation over media companies and journalists. The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine said in statement released in December that that bill would pose a "threat" to freedom of speech.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment.