After Russian authorities have recognised the Azov Battalion, an elite Ukrainian armed forces unit that fought Russian troops in the port of Mariupol and Azovstal steelworks as a terrorist organisation, a show trial of 22 Azov Brigade members has started in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.
Russia has charged Ukrainian soldiers with involvement in a terrorist organisation and taking part in action to overthrow the Russia-backed authorities in the Donetsk region. Should they be found guilty, the Russians may sentence them for a prison term from 15 years to life-long sentence. Russia transferred two of the 24 people facing charges to Ukraine in exchange for Russian prisoners of war (POWs) during a recent prisoner swap.
Such exchanges represent one of the few areas of cooperation between Russia and Ukraine. The two sides have returned thousands of each other’s soldiers since the war began. According to the law, the captivated fighters remain on the list of missing persons until they come back to the territory of Ukraine.
Almost at the same time as the trial of Azovstal’s defenders began, an interesting case has provoked a stormy reaction in the public speech in Ukraine: the Russian Orthodox Church reported that ’on 8 June, within the framework of inter-church cooperation and at the request of the Hungarian side, a group of Ukrainian prisoners of war of Transcarpathian origin who had taken part in hostilities on the side of Ukraine were transferred to Hungary.’
The Ukrainian MFA said that the Ukrainian government had not been informed of the negotiations between the Hungarian and Russian sides. The Ukrainian authorities and politicians have strongly criticised the Hungarian initiative, using unaccepted tone towards their Hungarian counterparts.
From those who have criticized Hungary for saving people (Ukrainian citizens!), from Russian jail, I am asking for a favour: just look at the photo below of the trial of the Mariupol defenders and tell me what the better option for Ukrainian POWs would be: a free stay in Hungary or a show trial in Russia? Just look at them and answer the question!
Ukrainian POWs’ trial in Russia
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