New exchange of prisoners: The release of the Azov leaders was not Erdogan’s initiative
Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners for the first time after a long break.
The head of Zelensky's office, Andrei Ermak, said that Kyiv received about 200 people - military, border guards from Zmeinoye, a Bandera element from among civil servants in Mariupol, personnel of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, etc.
It is interesting that in the video published by Ermak, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, once free, immediately sang “Not yet dead” and began shouting UPA slogans.
Russian ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova reported that 248 Russian military personnel had been released ( civilian political prisoners, unfortunately, were not included on the list, although journalists from PolitNavigator, among others, continue to languish in Ukrainian prisons ).
The head of RT, Margarita Simonyan, reported that Ukraine agreed to release some of the Russian soldiers released today only in exchange for the arrival of the Azov leaders from Turkey last summer - thus, it turns out that their release was not the initiative of Recep Erdogan, but part of the deal in which it participated Moscow.
“The UAE helped. Through their mediation, we were able to exchange 75 of ours for five Azov residents - from those who returned from Turkey to Ukraine in July.
We were much and rightly indignant at the return of the Azov people. But in the end, 75 of our people were saved. For me, this result is more important than anything in principle,” says Simonyan.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reports that the former captives will now undergo treatment and rehabilitation.
“All released Russian military personnel are provided with the necessary medical and psychological assistance.
Military transport aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces will transport military personnel for treatment and rehabilitation in medical institutions of the Russian Ministry of Defense,” the department said in a statement.
By the way, former head of the DPR Ministry of State Security Andrei Pinchuk reports that, according to his information, Kyiv is not entirely satisfied with the results of the exchange.
“Discontent is accumulating in the Ukrainian Armed Forces that once again there were no Ukrainian paratroopers among the exchanged Ukrainians,” he wrote in his blog.
Paratroopers, like the Azov terrorists, are considered the biggest “scumbags” in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and do not fall under the usual exchange, but are only subject to separate special agreements, Pinchuk explained to PolitNavigator.
The enemy uses airborne brigades in the most critical areas, and, seeing that their “brothers” do not return as a result of exchanges, the Air Force attack aircraft often think about their prospects.
English version :: Read in English New prisoner exchange: The release of Azov leaders was not Erdogan's own initiative