The FSB discouraged Putin from the exchange of Medvedchuk for 215 prisoners of Ukrainians, including 108 Azov defenders - The Washington Post.

The FSB discouraged Russian President Vladimir Putin from the exchange of his kuma Viktor Medvedchuk for Azov defenders, reports The Washington Post with reference to sources. Recall that as a result of the exchange , 215 Ukrainians, 55 Russians, Medvedchuk and 10 foreign citizens, including two Americans were released.

According to an anonymous Ukrainian official, the FSB "was categorically against, because she realized how this deal would look for the public." According to the press secretary of the military intelligence department of Ukraine Andrei Yusov, the transaction was postponed several times within two months of negotiations. “It was a complex operation requiring synchronism and simultaneous implementation of several stages in different countries,” he said.

Under the terms of the agreement, Russia freed five commanders who led the Ukrainian defense of the strategic port city of Mariupol. They cannot leave Turkey until the end of the war, but are not imprisoned and can move freely around the country, the TWP publication says.

According to Yusov, other Ukrainian soldiers were exchanged on the northern border of Ukraine with Russia, and 10 foreign citizens, including five British, two Americans, Moroccan, Croat and the Swede, were sent to Saudi Arabia before sending home.

According to a high -ranking Ukrainian official, Mohammed Ben Salman, the actual leader of Saudi Arabia, who sent a team of personal security specialists and his plane to Russia, played an important role in the deal to pick up prisoners. Thus, he is trying to improve his position in the West after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents, the American authorities say. The Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, who spoke in the role of the intermediary, also achieves the same goals, against which the West imposed sanctions.

The exchange was sharply criticized by the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, who expressed an insult that they had not consulted with him. He called the exchange for Ukrainian conditions incorrect and unacceptable. According to him, due to the decision of the Ministry of Defense, the fighters who “freed Mariupol” and are now on the front line, draw a conclusion and do not take the prisoners. In conclusion, Kadyrov added that this is his personal opinion, which does not affect the "main unshakable principle on the implementation of any orders of Vladimir Putin."