Ankara: Russia and Ukraine have not reached a new prisoner exchange agreement during talks in Turkiye, Moscow’s envoy told AFP on Thursday, saying her earlier remarks about a swap were misinterpreted.
Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova held rare talks in Ankara on Wednesday with her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Lubinets.
Turkish state media later quoted her as telling reporters that they had agreed to exchange “more than 40 prisoners” from each side.
But Moskalkova told AFP that those comments referred to the number of people the sides had already exchanged in the past.
“Someone misunderstood something,” Moskalkova said on the sidelines of an international conference in the Turkish capital.
“We were talking about the results of our past work. These exchanges already happened.”
Moskalkova added that she and Lubinets had exchanged lists of wounded soldiers in preparation for a possible future swap.
“Such exchanges happen all the time. These agreements are reached by the military, and we work jointly with them.”
The warring sides have held few direct contacts since Russia invaded its neighbor 11 months ago.
But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has tried to use his good relations with both Moscow and Kyiv to arrange peace talks.
Erdogan said on Wednesday that he backed the idea of setting up a permanent “humanitarian corridor” in war zone.
Moskalkova called it a “very important proposal” that still needed to be agreed with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The return of the wounded is a constant subject of our discussions, and Mr.Erdogan proposed a new way of solving this issue,” she said.
“This will probably still need to be discussed with Russian President Putin, and with the state agencies involved in this line of work.”
No new Russia-Ukraine prisoner swap deal in Turkiye talks: Moscow
https://arab.news/5p2sp
No new Russia-Ukraine prisoner swap deal in Turkiye talks: Moscow
- Turkish state media quoted her telling reporters that they had agreed to exchange “more than 40 prisoners” from each side
Hungary PM to attend Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ inaugural meeting
- Orban attended the launch of the initiative last month in the Swiss ski resort of Davos
- “Two weeks from now we will meet again in Washington,” he said
BUDAPEST: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Saturday that he will be going to Washington “in two weeks” to attend the first meeting of US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace.”
Although originally intended to oversee Gaza’s rebuilding, the board’s charter does not seem to limit its role to the Palestinian territory and appears to want to rival the United Nations.
One of the US leader’s closest allies in the European Union, the nationalist Orban attended the launch of the initiative last month in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
“Two weeks from now we will meet again in Washington, because the Board of Peace, the peace body, will have an inaugural meeting,” he told a campaign event in the western town of Szombathely.
Permanent members must pay $1 billion to join, leading to criticism that the board could become a “pay to play” version of the UN Security Council.
Orban — currently the longest-serving national leader in the EU — faces an unprecedented challenge at a general election slated for April 12.
Independent polls show the opposition led by Peter Magyar, an ex-government-insider-turned-critic, is ahead with a stagnating economy and growing discontent with public services, among key issues.
