Russian state television on Monday broadcast a video of two
Britons captured fighting for Ukraine. They urged Prime Minister Boris
Johnson to negotiate their release.

Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin, the haggard-looking British
nationals, requested that they be exchanged for Viktor Medvedchuk, a wealthy
Ukrainian businessman close to President Vladimir Putin who was recently
detained in the pro-Western country.

The broadcast did not say where or by whom the two men were being
held, whether by Russian forces or Moscow’s separatist allies in eastern
Ukraine.

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In the broadcast, an unidentified man shows the two men a video
released last week by Medvedchuk’s wife, Oksana Marchenko, in which she sought
her husband’s swap for the two Britons. The detainees then requested to be
traded for the businessman.

“I understand the situation,” Pinner, who looked tired
and nervous, said after being shown the video.” He added, “I’d like
to appeal to the government to send me back home, I’d like to see my wife
again.”

Pinner then made a direct appeal to Johnson on his and Aslin’s
behalf. “We look to exchange myself and Aiden Aslin for Mr Medvedchuk.
Obviously, I would really appreciate your help in this matter,” he said,
saying he spoke a little Russian and had been treated well.

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“I think that Boris needs to listen to what Oksana
(Medvedchuk’s wife) has said,” said Aslin nervously.

It was unclear if the men were coerced into speaking in the
footage.

In an interview with the British Daily Telegraph published on
Friday, Aslin’s mother pleaded for his release. Ang Wood, the widow, claimed
she recognised her 28-year-old son from a Russian broadcast owing to his
distinctive tattoo. The newspaper reported Wood as saying, “Aiden is a
serving member of the Ukrainian armed forces, and as such is a prisoner of war
and must be treated with humanity.”

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Viktor Medvedchuk, the Ukrainian businessman, owned three
Ukrainian TV stations that were blocked in 2021 when Zelenskyy said they were
spreading Russian propaganda and moved to freeze his assets. Thereafter, he had
been placed under house arrest and charged with high treason and afterwards,
with aiding terrorism in May 2021. On February 24, 2022, three days after
Russia sent its soldiers into Ukraine, Ukraine announced that Medvedchuk had
escaped from house arrest.

Pinner and Aslin both fought for Ukraine at Mariupol, which is now
nearly fully under Russian control.