British prisoners of war, Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, addressed the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday with the request to be exchanged by the pro-Russian politician close to the Kremlin, Viktor Medvedchuk, who in turn asked to be exchanged for the military and civilians who resist to the invasion in Mariupol.
“Mr. Boris Johnson, as far as I know, Viktor Medvedchuk is in custody. Aiden Aslin and I would like to be traded for him. We will be grateful to him for his help,” said Pinner in a video broadcast on the Rossiya 1 television channel.
The British military man, who was captured by Russian forces like Aslin in the besieged port city of Mariupol (Donetsk), claimed that his captors treat him well.
“I understand what situation I am in. All I can say is that they give us food and drink. I wholeheartedly ask you on my behalf and on behalf of Aiden to intercede to have us exchanged for Medvedchuk,” he added.
For his part, Aslin also expressed the hope that the head of the British Government could intercede for his release.
Medvedchuk himself, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and currently detained by the Kiev authorities, asked on Monday through a video that he be exchanged for Ukrainian civilians and soldiers resisting in Mariupol.
In the video, the leader of the opposition party “Platform for Life” addressed the Ukrainian and Russian presidents, Volodymir Zelensky and Putin, asking them to authorize an exchange of prisoners between him and “defenders and residents” in that city washed by the Sea of Azov.
Medvedchuk had been placed under house arrest last year to face charges of treason and financing terrorism, which he denies. He escaped a few days after the Russian invasion began in February, but was later captured by Ukraine.
Shortly after his arrest, which was announced by Zelensky himself and criticized from the Kremlin, the option of an exchange of prisoners was announced, something that was suggested by the Ukrainian president himself.
The call now for such an exchange comes a day after the expiry of the ultimatum given by Moscow to surrender to Ukrainian troops resisting in Mariupol.
It is estimated that some 100,000 citizens remain trapped in the strategic port city, with no possibility of evacuation as humanitarian corridors remain closed.
For her part, Medvedchuk's wife, Oksana Márchenko, also today proposed the exchange of the pro-Russian politician for the British fighters held by the Russian army.
Last Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov condemned the arrest of the Ukrainian politician, accused of treason by Kiev, but recalled that “Medvedchuk is not a citizen of Russia, it has nothing to do with the special military operation” and “is a foreign politician”.
(With information from EFE and Reuters)
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