Photo: REUTERSers/Sputnik/Kremlin/A. Nikolsky / Deutsche Welle
The Russian government is contemplating the possibility of releasing the Ukrainian prisoners of war captured in the Azovstal steel mill in exchange for kyiv releasing the politician Viktor Medvedchuk, one of the regime’s main allies in Ukraine Russian and especially its leader, Vladimir Putin. This was stated this Saturday by deputy Leonid Sluzki.
The parliamentarian, from the neo-fascist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, told the Interfax agency that the authorities The Russian forces are “examining the possibility of exchanging Medvedchuk for the fighters of the Azov battalion” captured by the Russian invaders during the final seizure of the steel mill, the last stronghold of the Ukrainian forces in the city of Mariupol.
Medvedchuk, a member of the pro-Russian Opposition Platform for Life party, was arrested in mid-April in Ukraine, accused of treason and misappropriation of funds. The politician was trying to flee to Russia, after he had been under house arrest for more than a year. His wife, Oksana Marchenko, assures that he would be suffering torture to get information about Russia’s plans.
Zelensky asks to join the EU
Meanwhile, the president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, said that the only option that exists is to welcome his country within the European Union, and that any other alternative would mean a concession to Russia. “We do not need alternatives to Ukraine’s candidacy for the European Union (EU), we do not need such commitments,” Zelensky declared from kyiv, during the visit to the country of the Prime Minister of Portugal, António Costa.
“Because, believe us, they will not be compromises with Ukraine in Europe, but between Europe and Russia. I am absolutely sure of that. It will be the result of the political and diplomatic influence and pressure of the Russians on a European decision to support Ukraine or not,” he maintained. Costa, for his part, assured that Ukraine’s entry into the EU is a process that must be received “with open arms” and has assured that Lisbon will provide “technical” support to kyiv for this purpose.