Moscow welcomes Orban’s POW swap proposal – Kremlin
Russia is willing to accept a proposal by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to mediate a major exchange of prisoners with Ukraine, unlike Kiev, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has revealed.
The Hungarian leader has claimed that the Ukrainian government rejected his proposal for a Christmas truce and a prisoner swap with Russia.
Orban and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone on Wednesday during which the prisoner-swap idea was discussed by the two leaders, Peskov confirmed to journalists on Thursday.
“On the very same day, the Federal Security Service sent to the Hungarian embassy in Moscow our proposals regarding exchange of prisoners,” the Russian official said.
Orban’s proposals were evidently rejected in Kiev, Peskov noted, adding that Russia welcomes Budapest’s humanitarian efforts.
Prisoner swaps are among the few issues on which Moscow and Kiev communicate with each other. The United Arab Emirates has in the past facilitated exchanges such as the one proposed.
In early December, Russian human rights ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova released a list of Ukrainian citizens in its custody, whom she said Kiev refuses to consider for a prisoner exchange.
“Zelensky does not need 630 Ukrainian citizens who were captured. He abandoned them,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stressed about the servicemen, commenting on the list’s publication.
Kiev is prioritizing the return of people it considers valuable, such as members of units famous for their proximity to Ukrainian nationalist circles, and disregarding the fate of regular conscripts, according to Russian officials.
