The Kremlin does not see the possibility of exchanging the detained Ukrainian Member of Parliament Viktor Medvedchuk (Opposition Platform - For Life faction) for captured Ukrainian servicemen, because he is not a citizen of the Russian Federation. This was reported by the Russian media Interfax with reference to a statement by the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov.
“As for the exchange, about which various figures in Kyiv spoke with such fervor, ardor and pleasure, Medvedchuk is not a citizen of Russia, he has nothing to do with a special military operation. He is a foreign political figure,” the statement says.
“We don’t know at all whether he himself wants some kind of Russian participation in resolving this libelous situation against him,” Peskov told reporters.
Peskov also said that Moscow would follow the fate of Medvedchuk.
"We will undoubtedly follow the fate of Viktor Medvedchuk, which, by the way, we call on European politicians who care so much about freedom of speech and talk about the impossibility of persecuting a person for political reasons," Putin's spokesman said.
As Ukrainian News Agency reported, on April 12, Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the detention of Viktor Medvedchuk and showed his photo in handcuffs.
Later, the President said that Medvedchuk was detained while trying to escape abroad.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said that he was in favor of exchanging the detained Viktor Medvedchuk for Ukrainians taken prisoners by Russia.
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