Brother’s plea amid death threats
on Russian TV, bloodied and bruised with prokremlin reporter Andrey Rudenko claiming the Brit was a mercenary “used [by the West] to perform various delicate tasks”. Under Russian law, those suspected of spying face interrogation and prison – whereas prisoners of war are released at the end of hostilities.
Social care worker Nathan and mum Angela Wood now fear Aiden will be treated as a spy. “We have grave concerns and fears especially if he is being treated as a mercenary and not a prisoner of war,” he said.
“The Russian authorities will have had his documents when they seized him, they will know that he is a Ukrainian soldier fighting legitimately.”
Nathan urged the Russians to treat his brother like a human being and a soldier under the Geneva Convention. The family is also pleading with the Government to help get him home but Nathan claims he has not received any updates from the Foreign Office.
He said: “They cannot sit by and leave it in the hands of the Ukrainians. He is Britain’s responsibility too.”
Aiden’s Ukrainian fiancée, who he had been due to marry this summer, has fled the country. Aiden previously fought with Kurdish armed units in Syria against IS.
Last night the wife of an oligarch pal of Russian President Vladimir Putin arrested in Ukraine called for him to be swapped with the two Brits. Dubbed Prince of Darkness for his influence on Ukrainian politics, Viktor Medvedchuk, 67, was captured this week.
In a clip on Youtube,oxana Marchenko said: “I 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 to influence Ukrainian leadership and to achieve Aiden’s and Shaun’s release by their exchange for my husband.”
The Foreign Office, which has consistently advised all Britons not to go to Ukraine, said: “We are aware of the detention of a British national and have been in touch with their family to support them.”
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