親ロ有力者、マリウポリの兵士らと「捕虜交換」を　ウクライナが動画公開

【ＡＦＰ＝時事】ウクライナ保安当局は１８日、拘束されている親ロシアの有力政治家でウラジーミル・プーチン大統領に近いとされるビクトル・メドベチュク氏が、包囲されている南部の港湾都市マリウポリでロシア軍と交戦中のウクライナ兵との自身の交換を呼び掛ける動画を公開した。（写真は親ロシアのウクライナ人政治家ビクトル・メドベチュク氏 資料写真）
　動画の中でメドベチュク氏はカメラを見つめ、「ロシアのウラジーミル・プーチン大統領とウクライナのウォロディミル・ゼレンスキー大統領に要請する。私をマリウポリのウクライナ兵および住民と交換してほしい」と呼び掛けている。
　メドベチュク氏は、マリウポリのウクライナ兵と住民は「人道回廊を通じて安全に退避する可能性を持っていない」と訴えた。
　ロシア大統領府は先に、ゼレンスキー大統領が提案したメドベチュク氏とロシアに拘束されているウクライナ人の交換について、応じない姿勢を示していた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/04/20-10:08）

Ukraine on Monday aired a video showing Viktor Medvedchuk, a detained pro-Russia tycoon and ally of President Vladimir Putin, seeking to be exchanged in return for an evacuation of civilians and troops from the besieged port city of Mariupol.
Mariupol has become a symbol of Ukraine's unexpectedly fierce resistance since Russian troops invaded the former Soviet state and pro-democratic country on February 24.
I want to ask Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to exchange me for Ukrainian defenders and residents of Mariupol, he said in the video published by Kyiv's security services, wearing black clothes and looking directly into the camera.
Medvedchuk, who escaped from house arrest after Russia's invasion and was detained last week, said the troops and residents there do not have the possibility of a safe exit through humanitarian corridors.
Medvedchuk is one of Ukraine's richest people and is known for his close ties to Putin. He is also a politician.
He says Putin is the godfather to his youngest daughter, Darya.
The Kremlin had earlier rejected the idea of exchanging him for Ukrainians detained by Russia, and Zelensky floated the idea of a swap.
He is a foreign politician, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov, explained last week.
Separately on Monday Russian state TV broadcast a video Monday of what it described as Britons captured fighting for Ukraine demanding that Prime Minister Boris Johnson negotiate their release.
The two men shown in the video asked to be exchanged for Medvedchuk, who had been accused of treason and attempting to steal natural resources from Russia-annexed Crimea and of handing Ukrainian military secrets to Moscow.