The fate of the surrendered Ukrainian soldiers defending Mariupol remains unclear. In the pro-Kremlin public, there are demands to severely punish the fighters of the Azov regiment, whom Russian propaganda calls “Nazi criminals.” But Ukraine also has a considerable number of Russian prisoners, many of whom are suspected of particularly serious war crimes, so the answer may be mirrored. How are Moscow and Kyiv going to solve the problem of prisoners of war?

On Thursday, May 19, the Russian Ministry of Defense showed a new video with captured Ukrainian soldiers defending Azovstal.

According to the Russian side, since May 16 (when it was agreed to take the wounded soldiers out of the plant), 1,730 soldiers have surrendered, 80 of them seriously wounded. How many more people can remain in the underground catacombs is unknown.

According to Russian media , the seriously wounded were taken to a hospital in Novoazovsk, east of Mariupol, on the border with Russia.

Most of the prisoners of war were sent to a penal colony in the village of Yelenovka near Donetsk – according to the adviser to the mayor of Mariupol Petr Andryushchenko, there are already three to four thousand Mariupol residents who have not passed the so-called filtration.

At least 89 more people from among the defenders of Azovstal were taken to Russia and imprisoned in SIZO-2 in Taganrog.

Brief background

Mariupol was surrounded by Russian troops in early March, shortly after the start of the war. The city was defended by soldiers of the Azov National Guard Regiment, marines, border guards, territorial defense forces and police. The defense of Mariupol pulled over large units of the Russian army and allowed the Ukrainian military to gain time – to prepare new lines of defense and reserves.

At the end of April, Russian troops managed to occupy most of the city, and the Ukrainian military ( and civilians with them ) were blocked at the Azovstal plant . Tanks, heavy artillery and aircraft were thrown against them, but resistance continued.

Defenders of the plant reported that about 600 wounded were in the dungeons on the territory of the enterprise in unsanitary conditions, without medicines, water and food .

On the night of May 17, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced a “rescue operation” for the military from Azovstal. The statement and department said that 53 people with severe injuries were taken to the Novoazovsk hospital, and another 211 servicemen – to Yelenovka.

“ The Mariupol garrison completed its combat mission. The High Military Command ordered the commanders of the units stationed at Azovstal to save the lives of the personnel ,” the General Staff said , adding that the military would be returned to Ukraine “through an exchange procedure.”

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his video message that “Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes alive,” and the work to return them “requires delicacy and time.”

The exchange of prisoners of war and civilian detainees is a common world practice. As a rule, during a military conflict, the exchange takes place on a one-to-one basis, but if a high-ranking military man is captured, the enemy may demand even more for him.

After the end of hostilities and the conclusion of a peace agreement, the exchange usually takes place on an “all for all” basis. This rule may not work only in the event of unconditional surrender of one of the parties.

Russian supporters of the war do not like the idea of an exchange. One of the active participants in the 2014 conflict in the Donbass, the ex-head of the self-proclaimed DPR, Igor Girkin (Strelkov), wrote in his telegram channel : “Judging by the reports, there was no surrender, but another shameful agreement. Let’s wait for the results. If in the coming days” heroes of Azov” will be covered with flowers in Kiev – it will be possible to state another triumph of sabotage and idiocy in one bottle.”

The telegram channel “PriZrak Novorossia” is even more radical – it calls the Azov regiment that defended Mariupol “an ideological-Russophobic unit”, the main goal of which is “the destruction and genocide of Russian / Soviet people.”

Its authors openly urge not to leave any of the prisoners alive, and before that it is “demonstrative” to subject them to torture.

Some Russian politicians are also against the exchange. On May 17, State Duma deputy from the Just Russia – For Truth faction Anatoly Wasserman proposed adopting a resolution or law prohibiting the exchange of “Nazi criminals.”

Wasserman did not explain by what criteria Ukrainian servicemen should be classified as Nazi criminals, but Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin immediately supported the idea and involved the defense and security committees in its development.

It was planned to start considering the draft resolution as early as Wednesday, May 18, but something stalled – the Duma did not discuss Wasserman’s initiative.

According to Kommersant , Moscow really has no plans to exchange the Ukrainian military, and the Russian authorities do not want to drive themselves into too strict limits in possible exchange negotiations.

On the morning of May 18, Andrei Klishas, head of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building, wrote on his Telegram channel that “all neo-Nazis from Azov should be tried for crimes committed in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.”

According to the publication, this approach is also approved by the lower house of parliament.

Earlier, the head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, said that the fate of the Ukrainian military would be decided by the court.

“The process is very sensitive “

Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Anna Malyar believes that the statements of Russian politicians about the impossibility of exchanging captured “Azov” are intended solely for internal propaganda.

“During this rescue operation and in the course of negotiations from there, we hear different statements by different people from different forces. Therefore, we must perceive them as political statements aimed at a propaganda effect and a propaganda goal for domestic Russian consumption,” Malyar said.

“Negotiations are ongoing because the rescue operation itself has several complex stages. This process is very sensitive. Any information that we announce publicly can harm both the process itself and our defenders,” she said.

Ukraine also has many Russian prisoners of war that the Ukrainian authorities can prosecute for war crimes such as massacres of civilians, violence against the population and looting.

One such trial is already underway in Kyiv – Russian serviceman Vadim Shishimarin is accused of killing an unarmed civilian. During the hearing, the Russian pleaded guilty, he faces life imprisonment.