Viktor Medvedchuk, the Ukrainian politician, the cousin of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is under US sanctions "a threat to the peace, security, stability, independence and territorial integrity" of his country, but he participates in negotiations on the Donbass, writes the influential Financial Times.

"62-year-old Medvedchuk for a long time in Ukraine was a mysterious and contradictory person," reads the article.

He headed the Administration of President Leonid Kuchma in the 2000s, and is also known for close relations with Putin. "Many people suspect him of being Putin's agent," the author adds..

Medvedchuk became the main mediator between the current pro-European government of Ukraine and Moscow, and a potential "key" to the denouement of the military confrontation that began after the flight of Viktor Yanukovych in 2014 and the reaction of Russia that annexed the Crimea and fueled the war in the East of Ukraine.

"If the world really does break, the offices of Medvedchuk in Kiev can play an important role, under the doors of which ... guards are on duty, and in the windows there are metal grilles," writes the newspaper.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Medvedchuk calls the "absurdity" of the criticism in his address. "I can and I have a relationship with. Putin, because my relations, in my vision, help the interests of Ukraine. I've never concealed this kind of activity, "he says, while the office television broadcasts the state-owned Russian television channel.

The politician added that he has a special permit for flights between Kiev and Moscow, although flights have been canceled between the countries. Publicly, he is a mediator in the release of hostages in the Minsk process, he is said to be involved in constant backroom negotiations between two regions controlled by militants in the Donbass and Ukraine.

Friends confirm that Putin is the godfather of the youngest daughter of Medvedchuk Darya, and Medvedev's wife is her godmother.

After the 2005 Orange Revolution, Medvedchuk stepped down from politics, but in 2013 his team from the organization Ukrainian choice lobbied for President Viktor Yanukovich not to sign the Association Agreement with the EU, and pushed for closer economic ties with Russia.

Such actions helped Medvedchuk to be on the first list of sanctions from the US after Moscow annexed the Crimea in 2014. But a few weeks later Medvedchuk acted as an intermediary for the Russian militant leaders and the new Kiev authorities, since, according to him, the terrorists refused to talk with Kiev directly.

Putin's Kum believes that it is possible to get out of the impasse in the Donbass issue if the Ukrainian parliament adopts laws that will ensure the limited autonomy of the occupied regions, and there it is necessary to hold elections.

The resolution of the conflict, Medvedchuk believes, can be even easier if the conversations involve a big discussion between Moscow and Kiev - including the Kremlin's demand that Ukraine should abandon NATO.

Source: HB.