Captured Britons ask Johnson for assistance in their swap for Medvedchuk

MOSCOW. April 18 (Interfax) - British nationals Aiden Aslin and Sean Pinner captured by forces of Russia and the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) have asked British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to assist in their exchange for Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk arrested in Ukraine.

"Mr. Boris Johnson [...] I understand that Mr. Medvedchuk has been detained and we look to exchange myself and Aiden Aslin for Mr. Medvedchuk. I do really appreciate your help in this matter and pushing this agenda," Pinner said in the 60 Minut program of the Rossiya-1 television channel (VGTRK).

"Myself, I've been treated well. Fully understand the situation that I'm in. We've been fed. Watered. I beg on my behalf and Aiden Aslin's behalf to help us in an exchange for Mr. Medvedchuk," he said.

Aslin also said in the program he was hoping Johnson could assist in their exchange for Medvedchuk.

Medvedchuk's wife Oksana Marchenko urged families of the captured British nationals to call for exchanging them for her husband.

Marchenko posted a video in Russian and English on YouTube to address "the near and dear of British nationals Aiden Aslin and Sean Pinner captured by forces of Russia and the DPR - Angeline Aslin, Nathan and Shannon Wood, and Derby and Ewan Pinner."

The detention of Medvedchuk, leader of the Verkhovna Rada faction of the Opposition Platform - For Life, by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) became known on April 12. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky offered Russia to swap Medvedchuk for Ukrainian citizens captured by the Russian military.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on April 13 that Moscow would be monitoring the Medvedchuk situation and urged European politicians to act likewise.