Podolyak on the possibility of exchanging Medvedchuk/Collage of Channel 24
The Russian leadership does not want to replace Viktor Medvedchuk with defenders and civilians from Azovstal. In Kyiv, too, they do not count on such a possibility, but at the same time they do not exclude it.
Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of the President's Office, spoke about this in an interview. He noted that over the past 8 years, Medvedchuk has been “branded” as an influential person in Russian politics. class=”bloquote cke-markup”>As it turned out, Russia doesn't really need Medvedchuk. That is, they would like to take it to ask certain questions – where did the money go? For them, now the importance of “breaking” Mariupol is much higher than Medvedchuk, Podolyak explained.
From a propaganda point of view, a possible victory over Azov is more important than a chance to take Medvedchuk or anyone else. Podolyak noted that Russia does not value human lives at all, this can be seen from their losses in manpower.
The proposal with Medvedchuk remains on the negotiating table
However, the adviser to the head of the Presidential Office stressed: the proposal with the exchange Medvedchuk is still on the negotiating table. However, from Moscow's reaction, it is already clear that they are not very interested in this.
Medvedchuk's exchange is possible: what is known
- Immediately after the full-scale invasion of Russia, Medvedchuk disappeared from under the house arrest.
- On April 12, the leader of the Opposition Platform for Life was detained by the SBU. He tried to flee to Transnistria.
- Subsequently, Medvedchuk himself turned in a video to the presidents of Russia and Ukraine with a proposal to exchange himself for the defenders of Mariupol.
- The Kremlin did not react to this proposal for a long time, but subsequently reported that they were not interested.
