Russia today told Ukraine to “be careful” after capturing its former Soviet neighbor, pro-Kremlin politician Viktor Medvedchuk, and turned down Kiev’s swap offer with warnings that its detainees could be arrested soon.

Medvedchuk, one of Ukrainian President Vladimir Putin’s close allies in Ukraine, was seen wearing a Ukrainian soldier’s uniform, handcuffed, in a photo shared by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Twitter yesterday.

Zelensky offered to replace Medvedchuk, while Ukraine’s internal security service, the SBU, branded him a future handcuffed traitor.

“Crazies who call themselves Ukrainian officials say they want to take Viktor Medvedchuk’s testimony ‘quickly and fairly’, convict him and then replace him with prisoners,” said Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council.

“These people should be careful and lock their doors well at night to make sure they don’t become people of exchange,” said Medvedev, a close ally of Putin and who was Russia’s president from 2008 to 2012.

In February, Ukraine said that Medvedchuk, the leader of the Opposition Platform – For Life party, had been released from house arrest. Last year, authorities prosecuted Medvedchuk for treason, who denied abuse of power.

The Kremlin said the case against Medvedchuk was politically motivated and denied having any channels of communication with the Russian leadership.

“There was no behind-the-scenes relationship with Russia,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters today.

“We will follow the fate of Viktor Medvedchuk and ask European politicians to do the same, because they are always very concerned about freedom of expression,” Peskov said. said.

Asked about Ukraine’s proposal to exchange Medvedchuk with Russian-held Ukrainians, Peskov said that Medvedchuk is a Ukrainian citizen and a foreign politician.