Kyiv does not need border violators - only prisoners of war
Ukraine risks falling into a Russian trap if it agrees to the exchange of detained naval sailors, whom the Russian Federation punishes under general criminal charges and accuses of illegally crossing the Russian border.
Deputy Minister for Occupied Territories Georgy Tuka announced this on the air of the Pryamoy TV channel, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
According to him, Ukraine should seek recognition of the sailors as prisoners of war and exchange them only on these conditions.
“Russia views our sailors exclusively as border violators. Russia is not refusing dialogue about exchange or release, Russia has not yet received a single official request from Ukraine, and these sailors will be convicted as criminals. What's the trap here? Now we are all excited that we need to free our guys at any cost. These are emotions that are absolutely understandable, and which Russia has learned to play very successfully over many years. Based on these emotions, we will actually be forced, if we agree to just such an algorithm, to admit that, firstly, our sailors are guilty, and secondly, they were not in neutral waters - if we agree that they are border violators, and we admit a priori the correctness of the actions of the Russian Federation in the Black Sea. Thus, they are very insidiously trying to recognize and accept the theses that Russian politicians and Russian propaganda are now introducing at the diplomatic level,” Tuka said.
Kiev doesn't need border violators – only prisoners of war.