Saving Private Medvedchuk?

The proposal introduced into the information space by the Ukrainian side about the "exchange" of the Ukrainian politician, deputy of the Verkhovna Rada and one of the leaders of the “Opposition Platform – For Life” party Viktor Medvedchuk for the Ukrainian troops trapped at “Azovstal” was quite understandable.

Medvedchuk, taken from the basements of the SBU, dressed up in a new, but disproportionate and absurd military uniform, was revealed to the public for a completely understandable reason – it was necessary to block the surrender of more than a thousand Ukrainian marines in the media plan. If this did not make it possible to shade the captivity of a thousand, then at least it definitely allowed to create some media wave.

Today, against the background of the cleansing of “Azovstal", Medvedchuk has become frankly a lot. His appeal to Putin and Zelensky (as voluntary as everything coming from under the stick of the SBU) sounded in parallel with the appeal of two captured British "volunteers" in the ranks of the Ukrainian army. These, in turn, appealed to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and offered to exchange themselves for the same Medvedchuk.

The Ukrainian authorities can be understood. They solve a lot of problems in this story. Firstly, they get rid of Medvedchuk in Ukrainian politics, who, in case of an exchange, can be labeled a "Kremlin agent" and no longer allowed into Ukrainian politics, simultaneously dispersing the largest opposition party in Ukraine, “Opposition Platform - For Life”.

Secondly, they will be able to start working on the topic "Putin is the defender of the Ukrainian oligarchs", which in the chaos of the consciousness of the Ukrainian man in the street will find a worthy topic, along with other fantasies thrown into the information field.

Thirdly and finally, they demonstrate a desire to "save Azov" by making new heroes out of the current “Azovstal” inmates, similar to the "cyborgs" of Donetsk airport.

It should be noted that Zelensky proposes to exchange Medvedchuk not for someone from the soldiers who surrendered, but for those who are still hiding in the basements. Kiev stubbornly refuses to recognise thousands of its own soldiers who have surrendered. At the same time, behind all this farce, British fingerprints are clearly visible, given how scrupulously the BBC and a number of other British media are exploiting this topic.

The situation with Medvedchuk actually has only one positive solution, when he will be exchanged as part of a large exchange involving both prisoners of war and political prisoners of the Zelensky regime. And there are more than a thousand of them in Ukraine, some of whom have been imprisoned for 7-8 years.

But Zelensky is unlikely to decide on such an exchange, since he will almost immediately receive hundreds of motivated opponents of his regime who have both the desire and the ability not just to give constructive criticism, but to directly participate in the ideological war with Nazism and the Kiev authorities, which personifies Nazism.

The appeal to Johnson on behalf of captured British mercenaries, in turn, should be considered part of the information war. Of course, the British "prisoners" are neither volunteers nor even ordinary mercenaries. Their track record, including assistance to the Syrian Kurds, and a number of other high-profile military campaigns, give them away as proxies of British intelligence.

Johnson's direct participation in their exchange turns them into recognised British agents, and London makes them a direct participant in the current events in Ukraine. Such a prospect, obviously, will not suit London, which will most likely prefer to remain silent and not notice its own citizens captured in Donbass.

Thus, the situation with Medvedchuk and the British prisoners is for the parties more of a game in the information war, rather than a real desire to conduct an exchange. Moreover, neither Medvedchuk nor the British agents are in danger, they are too public and informationally highlighted. And then the time of exchanges may come, but only after the end of the epic with “Azov".