Look inside one of the extravagant country homes of pro-Russian tycoon Viktor Medvedchuk who was captured by Ukrainian forces this week
Erin Snodgrass
- Ukraine this week said it seized a trove of assets belonging to Pro-Russia tycoon Viktor Medvedchuk.
- A 2014 photo series showcasing one of his country homes highlights the politician's extreme wealth.
Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian tycoon with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is having a terrible, horrible no good, very bad week.
On Tuesday, the pro-Russia politician was captured by Ukrainian forces after escaping house arrest on treason charges earlier this year. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared a photo of a haggard-looking, handcuffed Medvedchuk on Telegram as proof of his arrest.
Then, on Thursday, Ukrainian authorities said they seized a trove of assets belonging to Medvedchuk, including 23 houses, 32 apartments, 30 plots of land, 26 cars, and one yacht.
Over the last three decades, Medvedchuk has utilized his close relationship with Putin — who is godfather to Medvedchuk's youngest daughter — to install himself as one of Ukraine's most powerful backroom politicians, as well as one of its richest, with an estimated worth of $620 million, according to Forbes.
Medvedchuk was even thought to be Russia's top choice as a replacement for Zelenskyy as the Kremlin's puppet leader in Ukraine if Kyiv had fallen after the invasion.
The Kremlin on Wednesday shot down Ukraine's offer to swap Medvedchuk for Ukrainian prisoners, seemingly cutting ties with the captured tycoon.
Photos from yonder days, however, highlight the luxurious life Medvedchuk previously lived.
A photo series from March 2014 showcases one of Medvedchuk's many homes — a country home located in western Ukraine.
The property is known as dacha Vedmezha Dibrova. The word "dacha" is Russian for a country house or cottage typically used as a vacation home or second home (or 22nd in Medvedchuk's case).
The property is located in Zhdeniievo, an urban-type settlement in the Volovets district of Zakarpattia Oblast.
An artificial lake imbues the property with a pastoral ambiance.
The entire home is lit with lavish lighting when darkness descends.
Floor-to-ceiling windows adorn the home's interior.
One room within the home features elegant leather furniture and wooden pillars.
Stone columns, a fur rug, and framed photographs embellish the interior as well.
No tycoon's mansion is complete without an ornate, indoor swimming pool...
...Or a grand billiard room.
The dacha is adorned with several grandiose details, including opulent chandeliers and woodworking...
...As well as multiple decorative fireplaces.
And Medvedchuk's dacha Vedmezha Dibrova isn't his only property captured in photographs.
Ukrainian activists said last month that they visited the mansion where Medvedchuk was living during his house arrest and found a 19th-century railway dining car equipped with a gold-gilded toilet, among several other extravagant amenities.
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