Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Became A Fugitive For Ukraine, Previously Comments On The Crimean Bridge Explosion

Dmitry Medvedev. (Wikimedia Commons/Publicинистай езидинта осии)

JAKARTA - Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has been a fugitive, on a list made by Ukrainian security officials for more than half a year, according to the Ukrainian Security Service of SBU.

The statement said Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security, was sought under Articles of the Criminal Code dealing with efforts to undermine Ukraine's territorial integrity and its borders, which cannot be contested. Most of the members of the Russian Security Council are on the list.

It was not immediately clear why Ukrainian authorities had not released information sooner or why they are announcing it now.

Not only Medvedev, the statement also mentions a number of other well-known Russian officials, such as Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Vyacheslav Volodin (Chairman of the Lower House of Parliament), Valentina Matviyenko (Chairman of the Parliamentary High Council) and Nikolai Patrushev (Secretary of the Security Council).

"The Ukrainian Security Service stressed that Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia's Security Council and former president of the aggressor nation, was declared fugitives," the SBU said in a statement.

"This took place in March 2022 at the start of Russia's full-scale aggression," the statement continued.

Medvedev was seen as moderate when he served as president from 2008 to 2012, when he exchanged jobs with Vladimir Putin, who became prime minister. In recent years, he has voiced several Russia's hardline views on Ukraine.

Earlier, Medvedev said Russia should kill the 'terrorists' responsible for the attack on the bridge in Crimea.

"Russia can only respond to this crime by killing terrorists directly, such as habits elsewhere in the world. This is what Russian citizens expect," he was quoted as saying by state news agency TASS.

It was linked to the bridge explosion in Crimea last Saturday. It is known, the bridge is a major supply route for Russian troops in southern Ukraine and a symbol of Russia's control over Crimea, the peninsula it annexed after its troops seized it in 2014.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the explosion that damaged the only bridge over the Kerch Strait to the Crimean peninsula was "terrorist acts.

The explosion left Russia firing cruise missiles at cities across Ukraine during peak hours on Monday morning, killing civilians, causing power cuts and heat.