Swapping Azov fighters for Ukraine opposition leader Medvedchuk out of the question, Kremlin says

Prisoner exchanges are the purview of the military, so any possible requests to swap Ukrainian captives from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol for Russian POWs would go through the defense ministry, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

And when asked by journalists about jailed Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Medvedchuk, he reiterated that Russia had no intention of doing a swap, despite the politician’s request for such action.

“Medvedchuk is a Ukrainian citizen who has nothing to do with Russia and is not military,” Peskov told the media. Ukrainian soldiers and members of the Neo-Nazi Azov National Guard unit “are a different category” he added.

Medvedchuk led the biggest opposition faction in the Ukrainian parliament before the government of President Volodymyr Zelensky launched a crackdown on opposition forces in the country. The man is currently in the custody of the SBU, Ukraine’s domestic security agency.


On Monday, the SBU released footage of Medvedchuk apparently incriminating former President Petro Poroshenko and his government in the partial privatization of a fuel pipeline that goes from Russia and Belarus to Ukraine and westward to the EU. Zelensky ordered the nationalization of the Ukrainian stretch in February.

The politician also accused the former president of asking him to organize illegal supplies of coal from the breakaway eastern regions of Donbass. The politician’s attorney said the video was “a public relations stunt” by the SBU.

Medvedchuk has a reputation of having extensive ties to Russia. Critics claim he was part of a fifth column helping Moscow, while he said he was the victim of political persecution by Zelensky.

After reporting the capture of Medvedchuk, the SBU released a video, in which he asked to be exchanged for “the defenders and residents of Mariupol.”


He was referring to Ukrainian troops that were at the time blockaded in Azovstal, a heavily fortified steelworks in the port city, which was otherwise controlled by Russian troops. Ukrainian forces surrendered last week, with Moscow reportedly capturing almost 2,500 people, including members of the controversial nationalist Azov battalion.

Ukrainian officials described the surrender as an “evacuation” and claimed the fighters would be exchanged for Russian POWs detained by Ukraine. They implied Kiev had agreed an exchange deal with Moscow before Zelensky ordered the troops to lay down arms.

Russia did not confirm the Ukrainian claim, while some Russian officials said the Azov fighters should be prosecuted for alleged war crimes.

Source: Rt news

Poroshenko that said He will fight against Russians will soon be cooling off in a Ukrainian prison.. lmfao
Is this the American democracy championed by Zelensky?

Kingpin1000:
Poroshenko that said He will fight against Russians will soon be cooling off in a Ukrainian prison.. lmfao
Is this the American democracy championed by Zelensky?

that guy na joke…. Oyo na his case

Poroshenko Vs Zelensky

The Battle of Presidents

Good to watch this upcoming battle

Meanwhile internal strive in Ukraine politics

While Ukrainian forces are getting hit mercilessly in Donbass

I am so in for the Porochenko and Zelensky fight. I know Zelensky won't last long before he is killed.

Zelensky regime will just be arresting its own citizens and claim they are opposition and sympathetic to Russia and will want swap.

rottennaija:
Zelensky regime will just be arresting its own citizens and claim they are opposition and sympathetic to Russia and will want swap.

That what they do.

rottennaija:
Zelensky regime will just be arresting its own citizens and claim they are opposition and sympathetic to Russia and will want swap.

Zelensky is doing what every right thinking dictator will do. Crush all oppositions.
He is feeling the heat and may be scared of mutiny.

Zelensky ordered a crack down on opposition?
Igbofam BritishNaija Nsiba abi na nsikak opolopoopolonio VictorUSA!!…

Are you all aware that the man you all said is a good man is even as bad as the Putin u so much condemned and the west are cheering him up

There is no kind of hypocrisy we wouldn’t see in this dram unfolding in Ukraine.. Wow!!