What's behind it all?

Exchange of prisoners: Moscow increases pressure

The last exchange between the two countries took place in February 2024.(Bild: AFP)

Russia accuses Ukraine of sabotaging the exchange of prisoners of war. Moscow did not provide any evidence for the accusations. What is certain, however, is that the prisoner exchange has recently come to a standstill.

 "Unfortunately, the exchange with Ukraine, which is constantly making new pretextual demands, has been stopped for a few months," said Russian human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova at a parliamentary session on Wednesday. However, the human rights commissioners of both countries would continue to visit prisoners of war from the other side on a daily basis in order to monitor compliance with their rights.

RT boss holds list in camera
Moskalkova did not provide any further details on Kiev's alleged demands. The editor-in-chief of the state broadcaster RT, Margarita Simonjan, had previously published a list of 500 captured Ukrainian soldiers. She claimed that Kiev had only selected 38 fighters from the nationalist Azov regiment from this list for the exchange list and rejected the rest. She did not provide any evidence for her statement.

Russia has been waging a war of aggression against Ukraine for more than two years and currently occupies around a fifth of the neighboring country. The exact number of prisoners of war on both sides is unknown, but according to observers, the Russians have taken several times as many prisoners as Ukraine.

Calculations probably in the foreground
The accusations from Moscow are probably primarily aimed at further destabilizing the situation in Kiev and increasing the pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi. The issue is explosive in Ukraine. Zelensky has repeatedly promised to return all captured soldiers to their homeland. The last exchange between the two countries took place in February 2024.