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A panel on Russian State TV descended into farce when Putin’s propagandists disagreed over the possible method of execution for British fighters who have been captured by Vladimir Putin’s troops.
Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 48, were captured in Ukraine after travelling to fight against the Russian invasion.
The pair have both pleaded guilty to fighting for Ukraine in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Supreme Court, leading to fears that they could face the death penalty.
Amid these concerns, Russian State TV hosts were keen to have their own say, and descended into a farcical shouting match over whether the Brits should be shot or hung if they are sentenced to death.
In a clip shared by journalist Julia Davis on Twitter, pundit Vladimir Solovyov arrived on the topic of what Russia should do with the captured Brits, asking: “What can the British Empire respond with if two of its subjects are shot or hanged?”
The debate quickly descended into a farce, however, with political scientist Yaakov Kedmi seemingly determined that the British citizens be hanged.
“Pirates are never executed by shooting, only hanging,” he said. “Military gets shot, criminals get hanged.”
Solovyov disagreed with this assessment, and replied: “But we’re not dealing with pirates and these are not the middle ages, we don’t do quartering, we don’t care whether others execute by hanging.”
The pundits began a debate over the origins of hanging in Russia, and Kedmi’s references to public execution at the end of the Second World War were met by reminders that attitudes to public hangings had since changed.
Solovyov soon became exasperated, acknowledging: “We’re in the 21st century in the centre of Europe, holding discussions about how to execute mercenaries, to hang them, shoot them or quarter them? This is the new world.”
“This is chaos, we’re descending into chaos.”
Russia has been hit hard by sanctions from the West since invading Ukraine, and another pundit, Malek Dudakov, suggested that rather than executing the prisoners, the Brits could be used as a bartering tool for lifting these economic barriers.
“Why can’t we use the current situation to offer them to Britain in exchange for Russia’s frozen holdings?” he said.
“We know that their elites likely won’t go for it; they’ve already shown unwillingness to compromise, but this will cause a storm in British society.”
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- Russia
- Russia Ukraine war
- Ukraine
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