CAPTURED Brit fighters are being forced by Russian troops to ask Boris Johnson to release Vladimir Putin's pal in return for their freedom.

Russia is cynically using the brave Brit POWs Shaun Pinner, 48, and Aiden Aslin, 28, to force the release of Putin’s close Ukrainian ally dubbed the "Prince of Darkness" Viktor Medvedchuk, 67.

Both were paraded in front of propaganda TV cameras to float the idea of a swap.

Kyiv last week announced the capture of Medvedchuk, an opposition politician in Ukraine, who has long been seen as Putin’s man in the war-ravaged state.

The men are seen in separate appeals on Russian state TV making appeals to Mr Johnson who they want to pressure President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Since their capture in Mariupol, Russia has sought to milk the “British mercenaries” for propaganda purposes.

It appears the men now in Russian detention have been told their only route home is if the PM fixes Medvedchuk’s release - a move that would be seen as kowtowing to Putin.

It comes as Medvedchuk's wife called on the two men to be released in exchange for her husband.

In a video address, she said: "I, Oxana Marchenko, spouse of opposition politician, people’s deputy of Ukraine Viktor Medvedchyuk, address the relatives of captured citizens of Great Britain Aiden Aslin and of Shaun Pinner.

"It is in your power to ask the PM of your country Boris Johnson to influence Ukrainian leadership and to achieve Aiden’s and Shaun’s release by their exchange for… my husband Viktor Medvedchyuk."

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Captured Brits forced by Russian troops to ask Boris Johnson to release Putin’s ‘Prince of Darkness’
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