Wed 13 April 2022:
Russia on Wednesday condemned a Ukrainian official for saying that it was necessary to beat information out of Ukrainian opposition politician Viktor Medvedchuk before putting him on the list of war prisoners to be exchanged with Russia.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the comment by Vadim Denisenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s minister for internal affairs, a “British scheme.”
“Now you understand? The British scheme: to hold a quick trial, give a prison sentence, and then beat out a statement. Works all the time,” Zakharova wrote in a Telegram post.
In an interview with Ukrainian channel Rada TV on Tuesday, Denisenko said it would be “ideal now to carry out the fastest possible trial, give him (Medvedchuk) a related prison sentence, beat out of him certain information, and after that – to exchange.”
He added that the final decision on how to deal with the politician should be taken by prosecutors.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Medvedchuk’s arrest on Tuesday and proposed a swap with Russia for captured Ukrainian soldiers.
Ukrainian authorities see Medvedchuk, head of the political council of the Opposition Platform – For Life party, as a man close to the Kremlin and a personal friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putin, however, has described him as a “Ukrainian nationalist.”
“He does not like this definition, he considers himself a patriot of Ukraine, but it is no secret that his father was an active member of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, was convicted by a Soviet court, was put to prison and was exiled to the Krasnoyarsk region, where Medvedchuk was born,” the Russian leader said when asked about the Ukrainian politician.
Ukraine accuses Medvedchuk of treason, promoting terrorism and plundering national resources in Crimea.
He was supposed to be under house arrest until March 10 but was reported missing by Ukrainian authorities at the end of February.
Later, his lawyer acknowledged that Medvedchuk had left his home in Kyiv but remained in the city.
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