Ukraine, Poland jointly detain Medvechuk-linked propagandist in first such operation
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the Foreign Intelligence Service, and Polish authorities detained Kyrylo Molchanov, a propagandist working with pro-Russian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk's media network and Russian intelligence agencies, the SBU said on April 1.
Molchanov was initially detained in Poland and transferred to a pre-trial detention in Kyiv, marking the first such operation carried out in cooperation between Ukraine and an EU country.
Before the full-scale invasion, Molchanov was presented as a "political expert" in Medvedchuk's media group. In his speeches, the propagandist claimed that Ukrainians were divided by language, history, and religion and that the EU would deprive Ukraine of its sovereignty.
Molchanov also criticized Medvedchuk's political opponents and the pro-Western initiatives of the Ukrainian government.
After the start of the all-out war in 2022, Molchanov left for Russia, where he attended the program of Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov 35 times, according to SBU. The security agency presented him as "one of the key ideologists of the Kremlin media projects Other Ukraine and Voice of Europe," both of which were overseen by Medvedchuk.
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 his seat in parliament two years later.
"For the first time since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, a Russian agent who worked against our country in the media sector was handed over to Ukraine (from the EU) at the request of the SBU," the security agency said.
The SBU accused Molchanov of having been recruited by the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service. According to the SBU, Molchanov was engaged in discrediting Ukraine abroad and worked to undermine the internal situation in partner countries.
Read also: Massive data leak: Ukrainian IDs, other documents exposed by years of cyber negligence
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