Russia wants to ban exchange of Azov defenders

Tuesday, 17 May 2022, 17:26

KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO — TUESDAY, 17 MAY 2022, 17:26

On Wednesday, the State Duma of the Russian Federation will consider a draft resolution banning the exchange of so-called "Nazi criminals", and the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on 26 May will consider recognizing the Ukrainian battalion "Azov" as a terrorist organization.

Source: RIA Novosti

Details: Deputies of the State Duma supported the proposal of the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Defence, Andrey Kartapolov, to consider on Wednesday a draft resolution on "preventing the exchange of Nazi criminals".

Earlier, State Duma spokesman Vyacheslav Volodin said in a plenary session on Tuesday that "Nazi criminals" should not be exchanged, and Russia is doing everything possible to bring them to justice.

He asked the Duma Committee on Defence to prepare a resolution that would reflect the proposal on the impossibility of exchanging prisoners from the Azov Regiment.

At the same time, the Supreme Court of Russia on 26 May will consider the case of recognizing the Ukrainian Azov Regiment as a terrorist organization, according to the website of the Ministry of Justice.

"The Ministry of Justice of Russia states that the administrative case on the recognition of the Ukrainian paramilitary nationalist association, Azov, (other names used: Azov Battalion, Azov Regiment) as a terrorist organization and a ban on its activities in the Russian Federation is scheduled to be heard on 26 May in the building of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation," the report said.

Background:

On 16 May, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated that the Mariupol garrison had completed their combat mission, and unit commanders had been ordered to save the lives of military personnel.
53 severely wounded military servicemen from Azovstal were taken to a medical facility in Novoazovsk (the occupied territories of Donetsk region). "Another 211 defenders were evacuated to Olenivka with the help of the humanitarian corridor and then returned to the territory controlled by Ukraine through an exchange procedure," the General Staff said.
On 17 May, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk also said that once the health of the severely wounded Ukrainian servicemen from Azovstal is stabilized, they will be exchanged for Russian prisoners of war.
The Ministry of Defence insisted that there could be no other formula for rescuing Ukrainian Azovstal defenders than to follow the current plan.