MOSCOW, April 18. /TASS/. British mercenaries Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, who were captured by the Russian Armed Forces and the DPR, asked British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to exchange them for Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk. Footage of their appeal was shown on the 60 Minutes program on the Rossiya 1 TV channel on Monday.

"Mr. Boris Johnson, obviously, I'm Shaun Pinner. A lot’s going on over the last five or six weeks that I’m not fully aware of, obviously. I understand Mr. Medvedchuk has been detained and we look to exchange myself and Aiden Aslin for Mr. Medvedchuk," Pinner said, "Obviously, I would really appreciate your help in this matter."

Pinner noted that he was "treated well" in captivity. "I fully understand the situation that I'm in, we've been fed, watered, and that's all I can really say," he added.

In addition, the Brit reached out to his relatives and asked them to convey his request to Johnson as well. He suggested that his district’s lawmaker, member of parliament, talk to Johnson so that the British Prime Minister would convince Zelensky to make a decision on the possible exchange.

Earlier, Medvedchuk's wife Oksana Marchenko appealed to the relatives and friends of the British captives to ask British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to exchange them for her husband. "I think that Boris needs to listen to what Oksana [Medvedchuk's wife] has said," Eslin said in turn, "If Boris Johnson really does care about British citizens like he says he does then he will help."

On April 12, Ukraine's president announced that Medvedchuk had been detained and posted pictures of a man who looked like him in handcuffs. At the same time, Zelensky made a proposal to exchange the politician for Ukrainian prisoners of war.