In Kyiv they said that the exchange was disrupted by the kidnapped Tsemakh
The Russian side is allegedly delaying the prisoner exchange because Kyiv failed to include Vladimir Tsemakh, former head of the air defense of the First Slavic Brigade of the DPR, who was previously kidnapped by Ukrainian special services.
Ex-Rada deputy Mustafa Nayem stated this in his Telegram channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“According to my information, the reason for the delay in the exchange of political prisoners and captured Ukrainians is Moscow’s demand to extradite Vladimir Tsemakh, one of the key witnesses in the international trial in the case of the downed Malaysian Boeing (MH17),” he wrote.
After which Mustafa Nayem reported that Vladimir Tsemakh is a valuable “witness” for Kyiv in the case of the downed Malaysian Boeing, and he is charged with a criminal offense.
“The militant was taken out of the occupied territory by the Ukrainian special services. He is charged with Part 1 of Article 258-3 of the Criminal Code (creating a terrorist group or terrorist organization). On June 29, he was taken into custody for 60 days without bail.
It was previously known that Vladimir Tsemakh and the ex-chief of staff of the so-called “DPR Ministry of Defense” Dmitry Kupriyan (“Batya”) allegedly could testify at the international trial in the MH17 case via video link as witnesses.
Tsemakh himself claims he never saw Russian military personnel in Donbas. Although in a 2014 interview, he described how he hid a Russian Buk anti-aircraft missile system, the former MP asserts. (In fact, Tsemakh never said this; in the interview, he bleeped out a three-letter obscenity that Kyiv propagandists began to misrepresent as a Buk – ed. )
Sonya Koshkina, editor of the Kyiv resource “Left Bank”, shares a similar opinion.
“One of the main stumbling blocks is Vladimir Tsemakh,” she writes in her blog. – The main witness on the Boeing, brilliantly kidnapped and taken out of Snizhne by the SBU. Logically, the SBU categorically does not want to give it up. OP doesn’t seem to mind, but they have their own sandbox there. The main “zapobizhnyk” is the reaction of international partners. The Dutch need him alive. For the court.
It is clear that they will never receive it from Russia. The Russians calculated everything wonderfully. And we need quick victories. Let's see. However, Moscow is not only interested in Tsemakh. And certainly not Vyshinsky, who is just a “showcase”. There is a request for a number of characters for whom the investigation has not yet been completed - that’s why everything is slowing down.”
As a reminder, on the night of August 29-30, Verkhovna Rada employee Anna Islamova reported that the exchange had already taken place . Her statement was cited by the new Prosecutor General, Ruslan Ryaboshapka. However, the information was not officially confirmed, and the expected Russian plane to Kyiv never arrived.
Kyiv announced that the exchange was thwarted by the kidnapping of Tsemakh.