The Kremlin protested, on Saturday, the return of a number of leaders of the “Azov Battalion”, which Moscow classifies as “terrorist”, from Turkey to Ukraine, accompanied by its chief, Volodymyr Zelensky, in violation of an agreement that required them to remain where they are until the end of the conflict.
The Ukrainian presidency confirmed that it had returned a number of these people after “negotiations with the Turkish side”, and received them at Istanbul airport, Zelensky, who was on a visit to Turkey during which he met his counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “The return of the Azov battalion commanders from Turkey to Ukraine is nothing but a new direct violation of the terms of the agreements concluded,” according to Russian news agencies.
And he believed that Ankara, as well as Kiev, bears responsibility for this violation, because the agreement under which Russia released these people last year stipulated that they would remain in Turkey until the end of the war.
Peskov linked the return of these people to the “failure of the counterattack”, which Kiev launched in early June, to recover Russian-controlled territories in eastern and southern Ukraine, and Ankara’s desire to show its “solidarity” with Kiev ahead of the NATO summit in Lithuania, next week.
“Preparations are underway for the NATO summit and, of course, great pressure has been exerted on Türkiye,” he said.
The Azov Battalion, a unit created by volunteers, became famous in 2014, before it was integrated into the Ukrainian army, for defending the coastal city of Mariupol in the southeast of the country, which Russia occupied after a months-long siege.
After weeks of fierce fighting and bombing, the last defenders of Mariupol, garrisoned at the Azovstal plant, surrendered in May 2022.
The Kremlin and Russian state media accuse the Azov Brigade of being a neo-Nazi group linked to ultra-nationalist circles that committed war crimes. And the Russian judiciary classified it as a “terrorist” organization in August 2022.
In late September, Ukraine announced the release of 55 Russian prisoners of war in exchange for 215 held by Moscow, including the leaders of the defense of Azovstal.
Zelensky explained at the time that among those released were five “superheroes” commanders, some of them from the Azov Battalion, who were transferred to Turkey, where they will remain “in complete safety and in comfortable conditions” until the end of the war, according to an agreement concluded with Erdogan.
#Kremlin #protests #return #leaders #Azov #Battalion #accompanied #Zelensky #Türkiye
2023-07-08 22:29:51
