Ukraine widens probe against Kremlin ally Medvedchuk

FILE PHOTO: Viktor Medvedchuk, leader of Opposition Platform - For Life political party, attends a court hearing in Kyiv, Ukraine May 13, 2021. Ukrainian prosecutors put Medvedchuk under formal suspicion of treason and the attempted plundering of national resources in Crimea, the territory that was annexed by Russia in 2014. REUTERS/Serhii Nuzhnenko/File Photo

KYIV (Reuters) - Ukrainian prosecutors said on Friday they had widened an investigation into pro-Russian lawmaker Viktor Medvedchuk, accusing him of colluding with senior officials to finance separatist forces in the eastern Donbass region.

In May, authorities put Medvedchuk, the Kremlin's most prominent ally in Ukraine, under formal suspicion of treason as part of a crackdown on his circle that has fuelled tensions between Kyiv and Moscow.