“Danas” learns: Putin’s godfather founded the “The Other Ukraine” in Serbia

Russian media recently reported that the “The Other Ukraine” movement of Ukrainian oligarch and pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, also Vladimir Putin’s godfather, has registered a representative office in Serbia.

Russian media recently reported that the “The Other Ukraine” movement of Ukrainian oligarch and pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, also a godfather of Vladimir Putin, has registered a representative office in Serbia.

The Serbian branch was set up two months ago, according to Russian Octagon.

Yes, this information is true – Dragan Stanojevic, a Serbian businessman from Ukraine who is the representative of this association in Serbia, told Danas.

“The Other Ukraine” is registered with the Agency for Business Registers (APR), as can be seen from the following document:

Stanojevic, as he explained, came to the position of representative of the “The Other Ukraine” because of the connections he had made during his stay in Ukraine.

“I know the political system of Ukraine. Formally-legally, I am the representative, but the whole organization is theirs”, says Stanojevic, referring to Medvedchuk and the 15-20 other journalists, political scientists and activists from Ukraine who are behind the association.

The aim of this association, says Stanojevic, is to integrate Ukrainians who “have a different opinion from the official one” into our society.

“The idea is to animate Ukrainians who are in Serbia, to see if they need help. This is a concern for people who are outside Ukraine”, says our interlocutor.

As he points out, this is not a political story, but a social one.

Stanojevic argues that there are many organizations in Serbia helping Ukrainians, “sorting and classifying people”, whether they are pro-Russian or pro-Ukrainian.

“If you want to help people, you cannot count their blood cells. That is not the aim of our mission. We want to help everyone, regardless of political ideology”, Stanojevic reiterates.

“And Zelenski is someone’s godfather”

On the fact that “Putin’s godfather is behind everything” and what confidence this fact gives to people who might apply in this representative office, Stanojevic says that there is nothing wrong with this and that the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is somebody’s godfather.

“And (Ukrainian MP Petro) Poroshenko was Putin’s godfather’s partner, so nobody was bothered by that. “Putin has repeatedly said of Medvedchuk that he is a Ukrainian nationalist,” Stanojevic points out.

“The Other Ukraine” in Russia

According to Russia’s Octagon, the creation of Viktor Medvedchuk’s “The Other Ukraine” project was announced in April this year.

The international public movement “For the Development of Civil Society “The Other Ukraine” was officially registered in Moscow in June.

This year, the organization has hired lawyers on migration issues, experts on telephone numbers in centers to help Ukrainians and recruitment managers, Russian media report.

The declared objectives of the project are “legalization, social adjustment, employment” and other assistance to Ukrainian citizens. Five such centers are currently operating – in Moscow, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Belgorod and Simferopol. The organization promises free gifts for the New Year 2024 “for the children of all Ukrainians who register.”

Who is Viktor Medvedchuk?

Viktor Medvedchuk is a 69-year-old Ukrainian opposition politician who was handed over to Moscow by Kiev last September in exchange for captured Azov Battalion fighters.

From 2002 to 2005, Medvedchuk was Chief of Staff to Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma.

He is also one of the richest people in Ukraine, with Forbes estimating his wealth at $620 million.

He is known to the Serbian public mainly for – allegedly – his yacht in Croatia, which was moored in Rijeka at the start of the conflict in Ukraine.

Putin and the Godfather

Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian oligarch, has godfatherly relations with Russia’s Putin.

They first met in 2003, when Medvedchuk was head of the Ukrainian President’s administration.

In 2004, Putin became godfather to Medvedchuk’s youngest daughter, Daria.

Medvedevchuk has been under US sanctions since the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014 and was arrested by Ukraine last May for high treason and plundering state resources in Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

Medvedchuk is said to be the founder of a Kiev-based law firm.

He is also known as one of the members of the so-called “Kyiv Seven”, a group of seven highly successful businessmen (Medvedchuk, Valentin Zhurski, Grigory and Igor Surkis, Bohdan Hubski, Yuri Karpenko and Yuri Liyakh).

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