On March 7, Russia and Ukraine held another exchange of prisoners. According to the parties, Moscow gave 130 people, Ukraine – 90.
According to the Russian opposition publication Verstka, the parties have carried out 38 exchanges since the beginning of the war, which have been publicly announced.
The exchanges, judging by the statements of the Ukrainian authorities, began a year ago – on March 1, five fighters of the Ukrainian territorial defense were exchanged for one Russian officer, after that they carried out two more exchanges, and in April, Ukraine, according to the authorities of the country, managed to return home about 300 people. Russia, in April, officially confirmed the exchange of about 130 people.
In the summer, judging by open data, the parties held four exchanges, as a result of which Kyiv, including the release of 95 Azovstal defenders from captivity.
In autumn and winter, the frequency of exchanges increased sharply. The sides changed prisoners at least four times in December, seven times in November, five in October and three in September. As a result of these measures, Putin’s godfather Viktor Medvedchuk was returned to Russia, under which Kyiv, according to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak, received 200 people, including fighters from the Azov battalion. However, as a result of the same exchange, Moscow, according to official figures, released another 55 people from captivity.
In general, according to Nestka’s calculations based on publicly disclosed figures, Ukraine exchanged 1,943 people from captivity, and Russia – 1,324. Ukrainian.” Russia has not officially announced the total number of those released from captivity.
How did the exchange of “Azov”
In April, Ukraine and Russia held secret talks on the evacuation of Azovstal defenders, CNN reports.
In April 2022, a group of representatives of Ukraine and Russia began secret negotiations to end the siege of the Azovstal plant. The group included Verkhovna Rada deputy Oleksandr Kovalyov and two sanctioned representatives of Russian intelligence, according to a CNN material.
According to Kovalev, he first contacted former SBU agent Valentin Kryzhanovsky, who defected to the Russian side in 2014. Kovalev notes that the decision to conduct negotiations was made by the head of the GUR MOU Kirill Budanov.
Kovalev went to the territories occupied by Russia on April 25, after which his negotiations began with Kryzhanovsky and Lieutenant General Andrei Sychev.
The second round of negotiations began on 9 May. They were joined by Budanov’s deputy, Dmitry Usov, and on the Russian side, two high-ranking generals from Russian military intelligence appeared at the negotiating table.
During the third visit of Kovalev to Mariupol, which was under constant shelling, the conditions for the exit of the “Azov” were formulated: a ceasefire on both sides, the surrender of the plant and “civilized conditions for our prisoners of war and exchange.”
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.