Russia, Ukraine exchange 203 prisoners

Russia and Ukraine engaged in their latest exchange of
prisoners on Dec. 29, in which 76 Ukrainian citizens – being held in the occupied
territories of Donetsk and Luhansk – were traded for 127 Russian-aligned
prisoners held in Ukraine. Four Ukrainian citizens reportedly declined to
return, while 14 Russian-aligned prisoners also declined to return. Among the
Russian-aligned prisoners was a Brazilian citizen (Rafael Lusvarghi) fighting
with the Russian-backed forces, five former police officers (with the
liquidated Berkut special forces unit) suspected in the killings in the
EuroMaidan protest of 2014, a suspect (Maksym Mysiak) in the murder of three
Kharkiv businessmen in 2013-2014, and three suspects accused of organizing a
terrorist attack in Kharkiv in February 2015 that killed four EuroMaidan
supporters. Another 300 Ukrainian citizens remain imprisoned in Russia and
Donbas, said Valeria Lutkovska, Ukraine’s representative to the humanitarian
subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group.

In his defense of releasing the EuroMaidan police
officers, President Zelensky said he would not have secured the release of
Ukrainian reconnaissance officers that were captured in the siege of Debaltseve
in February 2015. “Unfortunately, we can’t return those we lost. But we can
return the living. At each second of each day, this exchange could have been
undermined. I returned the living, and it seems like this is the main thing.
This was my choice,” Zelensky said during his press briefing at Kyiv Boryspil
airport on Dec. 29.

The inclusion of police officers suspected in the
EuroMaidan murders, alleged pro-Russian terrorists and a suspected murderer in
the prisoner exchange drew harsh criticism by Ukraine’s pro-Western forces.
Protesters gathered at the Kyiv prison to demonstrate their opposition to the
release of the police officers, while a ban was unfurled in Kharkiv against the
release of the alleged terrorists.

The European Solidarity and Voice parties also
condemned these measures, particularly the Berkut officers. “Russia always
strived to include them in the exchange lists, but the fifth president of
Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and our political force always considered this format
to be unacceptable,” said a Dec. 28 statement by the European Solidarity party.
“The government’s decision on the exchange of individuals, who were involved in
the crimes against the participants of the Revolution of Dignity, will tear the
last threads leading to the direct orderers of the killings. It’s already
obvious that these threads lead to Moscow, to the main orderer Putin, and his
marionette, (Viktor) Yanukovych. The striving of Russians to gain the Berkut officers
under their jurisdiction is the public admission of the Kremlin’s involvement
in the mass shootings on the maidan, and the operation to exchange prisoners
was conducted solely to sweep up the crimes that were the start of Russia’s
military intervention in Ukraine.”

Zenon Zawada: This
prisoner exchange offered some valuable revelations. Firstly, it confirms that
agreements were reached between Russia and Ukraine, possibly finalized at the
Normandy Format summit, that were concealed from the public, which is what we
suspected from the start. Had plans to exchange suspected murderers and
terrorists been revealed to the public earlier, larger protests could have been
organized. Instead, the exchange was carried out during the New Year’s
holidays, when many Ukrainians are with family or friends, away from the cities
and away from the latest news reports. We can expect such deceptive methods
from the Zelensky administration in reaching unpopular compromises with Russia
in resolving the conflict on Donbas.

Russia’s demand for the release of the suspected
murderer of three Kharkiv businessmen, as well as three suspects in the Kharkiv
terrorist attack in February 2015, offers more evidence of what has been long
suspected, which is that Russia’s violent aggression against Ukraine is not
limited to Donbas. Fortunately, Ukraine’s Security Service has pre-empted
numerous terrorist attacks that had been planned throughout Ukraine’s regions
in recent years. Unfortunately though, some of these attacks were not pre-empted,
as with the numerous explosions at artillery and ammunitions arsenals. The fact
of this exchange makes it even more ludicrous for Russia to claim that this is
a civil war, otherwise it wouldn’t be advocating for the release of suspected
criminals beyond the boundaries of occupied Donbas.

Another key observation is that this exchange is
merely the latest evidence that the Zelensky administration is willing to go to
great lengths to find compromise with the Russians, play by their rules and
give them the edge in a political deal, all for the sake of “peace.” It’s
entirely logical to expect that this approach will extend to the fulfillment of
the Minsk Accords. We had stated that Russia’s goals in Ukraine also involve
humiliating the nation, and this is part of that effort, in which the Kremlin
has found a willing partner in the Zelensky administration.