Kremlin fury as Turkey returns prisoners to Ukraine
Turkish president last year brokered Russia’s release of five key commanders on condition they stay in Turkey; now they are home
Five Ukrainian military commanders held in Turkey since Russia released them in a prisoner exchange last year returned to Ukraine on Saturday, provoking anger from the Kremlin, which said it violated the terms of a deal brokered by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The five men, who led Ukraine’s defence of port city Mariupol in the early phase of Russia’s invasion, surrendered in May last year among a group of more than 1000 fighters, many of them from the Azov regiment, which Russia has designated a terrorist group.
Russia had vowed to put the men on trial, but released 215 of them as part of a broader exchange of prisoners brokered by Turkey in September.
Under the deal, the five men, including Azov regiment commander Lieutenant Colonel Denys Prokopenko and his deputy, Svyatoslav Palamar, as well as the commander of the 36th Marine Brigade, Serhiy Volynsky were meant to remain in Turkey until the end of the war.
“We are returning home from (Turkey) and bringing our heroes home,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Twitter on Saturday. “They will finally be with their relatives.”
A video showed Mr Zelensky and his chief of staff embracing the five men before boarding a private jet with them.
Crowds gathered in Ukraine’s western city of Lviv to welcome them back.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti that Moscow hadn’t been informed about the transfer and the return of the Azov leaders from Turkey to Ukraine was “a direct violation of the terms of the agreements.”
“Moreover, in this case, the terms were violated by both the Ukrainian and Turkish sides,” Mr Peskov was quoted as saying.
Mr Peskov said the decision to repatriate the Azov leaders proved Turkey was under pressure to show its solidarity with the NATO , of which it is a member, before its upcoming summit.
Mr Zelensky arrived in Turkey on Friday as part of a tour of NATO countries, courting support ahead of a summit in Lithuania next week where members are expected to reaffirm that Ukraine will eventually join.
“Without a doubt, Ukraine deserves to be in NATO,” Mr Erdogan said during a joint news conference with Mr Zelensky.
Mr Erdogan has positioned Turkey as an intermediary between Russia, Ukraine and the West, brokering some of the only diplomatic breakthroughs of the entire war, including a deal to reopen Ukraine’s Black Sea ports for grain exports as well as prisoner exchanges.
Frequently speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he has urged Russia to accept peace talks but also helped to ease the Kremlin’s isolation and soften the blow of Western sanctions. He also speaks often with Mr Zelensky and visited Ukraine in a show of support weeks before the invasion and again in August.
Moscow’s decision to hand over the five commanders to Turkey last year was criticised as a bad deal in Russia. In return for the 215 men, Ukraine released 55 Russians and Viktor Medvedchuk, a confidant of Mr Putin.
Mr Medvedchuk, the leader of a banned pro-Moscow party in Ukraine, faced treason charges.
Russia’s top court designated the Azov regiment a terrorist group in August. The unit was originally established as a volunteer militia in 2014 to support Ukraine’s threadbare armed forces against pro-Russian militants who took over several cities in the east of the country.
Russian propaganda channels highlighted the unit’s large contingent of Ukrainian nationalists and its commander, Andriy Biletsky, who had led groups that espoused neo-Nazi ideas. The regiment was integrated into the National Guard later that year and Biletsky left in 2016. More than 700 Ukrainian fighters who surrendered after holding out for weeks in the bunkers beneath Mariupol’s giant steelworks remain in Russian captivity, according to an organisation that represents their families.
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