How much is Medvedchuk today and who needs to exchange him for bandits from “Azov”
Before the victorious reports from the Russian side had time to subside regarding the final cleansing of Azovstal from the Nazis and the mass surrender of the Kalyn-Volyns, the emotional swing swung sharply in the completely opposite direction. The reason was given by Zhirinovsky's potential successor as head of the LDPR, Leonid Slutsky. Declaring that in Russia “are studying the possibility of exchanging Medvedchuk for captured Azov residents».
As they say, we have arrived. Or, as the Ukrainians say in such cases, “again, pennies for fish.” When this rotten and marked map was first pulled out of its sleeve in mid-April in Kyiv, the active part of Russian society literally stood on its hind legs, and the resonance was slightly less than that which arose after Medinsky’s memorable speech in Istanbul.
This is understandable - the Kyiv cheaters, with references to the “rules of war” that never existed in nature and were known only to them, proposed to Russia something completely unheard of in the world annals of military history - to exchange ONE citizen of Ukraine, and a non-combatant at that, that is, to hostilities and, moreover, having nothing to do with the Russian side, there are SEVERAL THOUSANDS of other citizens of Ukraine, truly combatants, with weapons in their hands fighting against the Russian Federation, but at that time not only did not surrender, but did not even express such an intention.
Under this strange exchange of Ukrainians for Ukrainians, Medvedchuk’s wife Oksana Marchenko came to the rescue, releasing several video messages at once - to Zelensky, to Erdogan and to someone else, I can’t remember now, and it’s not that important. But if Oksana can be humanly understood - after all, she was not working for a stranger, then the Russian authorities, having signed such a deal, would have looked both stupid and vile. The latter is in relation to their own soldiers, who would continue to be in captivity while their enemies were exchanged en masse for Putin’s godfather.
Fortunately, reason and political expediency prevailed then, and this topic was quickly dropped, after which Kiev also became quiet, apparently realizing that Moscow did not take the bait. And Medvedchuk was safely forgotten for more than a month.
Now the story has come to a second turn. And it would be fine if this idea were the personal initiative of Mr. Slutsky himself. You never know what he is “studying” there. But the Duma figure’s reservation (I quote verbatim) is alarming: “We will study not we - the LDPR - but those people in Moscow who have such powers" But this, as they say, is a completely different matter. Isn’t such a statement a deliberate hoax from those same unnamed but authorized people to test the reaction of public opinion? What if it goes for a ride?
And if it goes well, and society, lulled by victorious reports, does not pay attention, then other channels will turn on - informal agreements, during which, as one Moscow publicist well and figuratively said, Russian negotiators “shyly hand over their trump cards to their opponent under the table».
Unfortunately, the reality is that this option cannot be completely ruled out. This means that it is all the more important to attract public attention to this kind of strange initiatives in order to discourage not only exchanging thousands of prisoners for a Ukrainian political loser, but even think about it.
I will not repeat the well-known arguments that Medvedchuk, in his current capacity as a private individual, against whom the Kiev regime has legal claims, is completely unnecessary.
And in general, it’s time to end these shameful exchanges of Ukrainians for Ukrainians, which, by the way, have become a common practice largely through the efforts of Medvedchuk himself. If the Kiev regime illegally arrested some good people with Ukrainian passports, the maximum that Russia should do is to demand their immediate and unconditional release, connecting all channels to this, including the UN, Amnesty International and the Pope. And at all Don’t trade these people like in a bazaar.
We are talking about the same poor Ukrainian civilian non-combatants who did not manage to escape from the SBU in time and are now languishing in its basements on political charges. For example, the Kononovich brothers. Or Yana Taksyur. Or Odessa resident Yuri Tkachev.
As for Medvedchuk, the only real option for exchanging him is a mirror one. Remember the classic Soviet-Chilean exchange of a bully for Corvalan? On the one hand, there was a Soviet citizen who dreamed of breaking out of the Union into the “free world.” On the other hand, there was a Chilean who was imprisoned in Pinochet’s prison and was ideologically close to the Union. Let me remind you that they had different passports.
And if Kyiv so dreams of sending Medvedchuk to Russia, let it prepare to receive one of the Russian trans-Ukrainians. You can give them a whole line to choose from. If they want, let them take Gozman. Or even Navalny himself. The latter, by the way, is a figure equivalent to Medvedchuk. Also with a claim to leadership in the opposition. And prisoners of war are prisoners of war because you can exchange them, even if you wish, for the same prisoners captured in battle. And nothing else.
All other talk is from the evil one. Unless, of course, the speakers have a special goal of making a propaganda gift to Kyiv at the expense of Russian soldiers.
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