Russia turns down prisoner swap for captured Ukrainian politician Medvedchuk

Russia has turned down a prisoner swap for the captured pro-Kremlin politician Viktor Medvedchuk, and warned Ukrainian authorities that those holding him might soon be detained.

On Tuesday, one of President Vladimir Putin's close allies in Ukraine, was shown handcuffed and wearing the uniform of a Ukrainian soldier in a picture posted by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Mr Zelenskyy proposed swapping Mr Medvedchuk, while Ukraine's domestic security service, SBU, cast him as a traitor whose future would be in shackles.

The freaks who call themselves Ukrainian authorities say they want to beat testimony from Viktor Medvedchuk, ''quickly and fairly', convict him, and then exchange him for prisoners, said Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council.

The head of Ukraine's SBU intelligence service said on Wednesday that Mr Medvedchuk had planned to escape Ukraine by secretly crossing into the Transdniestria region of Moldova, but his plan was foiled.

Russian FSB intelligence agents were waiting for Mr Medvedchuk in Transdniestria to take him to Moscow, but he was arrested on his way to the border in the Kyiv region, the head of the SBU agency said.

In February, Ukraine said that a leader of the Opposition Platform -- For Life party, Medvedchuk, escaped from house arrest.

The authorities opened a treason case against Medvedchuk last year, which denies wrongdoing.

The court case against Medvedchuk was politically motivated and denied that he had any communication back to the Russian leadership, according to the Kremlin.

We will follow the fate of Viktor Medvedchuk and we also call on European politicians to do the same as they are always so concerned about freedom of speech, Mr Peskov said.

Ukraine's SBU warned all pro-Russian traitors and agents of Russian secret services that they would be brought to justice for all crimes of the present day. Thousands of people in Ukraine have been killed and more than 10 million displaced after Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, which has raised fears of a wider confrontation between the United States and Russia - the world's two biggest nuclear powers.

Putin says that he believes that a special military operation in Ukraine is necessary because the United States was using Ukraine to threaten Russia and Moscow had to act to defend Russian-speaking people in Ukraine against persecution.

Ukraine says it is fighting against an imperial-style land grab and dismisses Mr Putin's claims of genocide as nonsense.

Asked about the Ukrainian proposal to swap Mr Medvedchuk for Ukrainians held by Russia, Mr Peskov said that Mr Medvedchuk was a Ukrainian citizen and a foreign politician.