Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky flew to Istanbul on Friday to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. After the meeting, the Kremlin has expressed its displeasure – as Zelensky had filled his private jet with the commander of the notorious Azov battalion when he returned to Ukraine.
– We are returning from Turkey and taking our heroes home with us, writes Volodymyr Zelensky.
The five Azov commanders were arrested in connection with the fierce fighting in and around the port city of Mariupol last spring. Since then they have been imprisoned in Turkey, until yesterday when the customers return to Ukraine.
Now the Kremlin rages against Turkey and believes that they violated an agreement between the countries which decided that the men were not allowed to return to Ukraine before the war was over.
– Nobody informed us about this. According to agreements, these principals would remain on Turkish territory until the end of the conflict, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the state-run Russian news agency RIA.
Hundreds arrested at the steel mill
Russian forces were able to arrest hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers after the bloody battles that took place in Mariupol last spring. After three months, the Ukrainian president gave his approval for the remaining Ukrainian forces to raise the white flag.
A large part of the captured soldiers hid in bunkers and tunnels at the city’s steelworks and belonged to the infamous Azov Battalion.
In September last year, some of them were able to return from Russia to Ukraine in connection with a major prisoner exchange, which was then organized in cooperation with Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
The conditions for that prisoner exchange were that the now-freed Azov commanders would stay in Turkey until the end of the war, according to Reuters.
22 Azov soldiers have also been charged in a Russian court, as Russia labeled the battalion a terrorist. Prosecutions that Human Rights Watch criticized, as they believe they violate the Geneva Convention rules for the treatment of prisoners of war.
There is currently no information on the details of the extradition of the Azov commanders or what Turkey should have gained from the implementation.