Moscow is considering exchanging prisoners from the Ukrainian Azov Battalion with Viktor Medvedchuk, a wealthy businessman and politician close to President Vladimir Putin, a Russian negotiator said on Saturday.
“We will examine the possibility,” said Leonid Slutsky, a member of the Ukrainian-Russian negotiation team in the separatist city of Donetsk in southeast Ukraine, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.
Medvedchuk, 67, is one of Ukraine’s richest men, known for his closeness to Putin. He was released from house arrest after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, but was re-arrested in April.
On Friday, the Russian military announced that the last defenders of the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol had surrendered after weeks of resistance at the Azovstal steelworks.
Among the Ukrainian fighters who surrendered to Russian troops were members of the Azov Battalion, a former paramilitary unit that joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Russia classifies this group as a neo-Nazi organization because of its past ties to far-right groups.
The Supreme Court of Russia will consider the request for the Azov Battalion to be classified as a “terrorist organization” on May 26, which will make it difficult to exchange prisoners.
source: Noticias
