The Russian arms dealer is responsible for supplying arms in numerous conflicts.
(Photo: dpa)
Moscow, Washington, Kyiv In Moscow, nationalist circles are hailing the homecoming of Viktor But, the “merchant of death”. The US-imprisoned arms dealer was swapped Thursday for US basketball player Brittney Griner, who is being held in Russia for drug possession.
The athlete was caught with a small amount of vape cartridges and hashish at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport earlier this year and sentenced to nine years in prison in a trial criticized as politically motivated.
Despite the huge tensions in the wake of the Ukraine war, Washington and Moscow had agreed on the sensational exchange of prisoners. Griner and But were flown to the United Arab Emirates for the prisoner exchange at Abu Dhabi Airport.
Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova stressed that President Vladimir Putin personally campaigned for But’s release. The deal is being celebrated in right-wing circles in Russia in particular: “The exchange of Buts is more than advantageous: in 2019 the Russian authorities offered to hand over 15 Americans for his return, the process now took place according to the formula 1 to 1,” wrote the Russian Defense Ministry-affiliated military blog Rybar on Thursday. In addition, Moscow did not have to release a valuable spy or mercenary, just “an ordinary basketball player”.
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The government in Washington justified its actions after criticism from US Republicans, who see the American Paul Whelan, who is still in prison in Russia, as being abandoned. “It wasn’t that we had to choose between Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told CNN. It was about releasing one prisoner rather than no prisoner.
The US basketball player was arrested for drug possession in Russia.
(Photo: AP)
The Russians blocked US proposals to release Whelan. The former marine was arrested in Russia in 2018 and convicted of alleged espionage.
“We have a message for Paul Whelan. It’s a message we sent to him just recently and again today. Keep the faith, we’re coming for you,” Price said. Whelan had previously expressed disappointment. US President Joe Biden and his team must now consider what is valuable enough for the Russians to secure a release, Whelan told CNN. “And to be honest who knows how I’ll come back in these conditions. Or if I will come back at all.”
Russian artillery shelling and fierce fighting in Donetsk
According to the Ukrainian military command, Russian forces shelled civilian infrastructure in the cities of Kupiansk and Zolochiv in the north-eastern Kharkiv region and in Ochakiv in the Mykolayiv region with artillery. Donetsk region governor Pavlo Kirilenko said in a TV interview that the fiercest fighting was taking place near the towns of Bakhmut and Avdiivka.
The entire front line was under fire and Russian troops were also trying to advance near Lyman, which was recaptured by Ukrainian forces in November. The information could not be independently verified.
Zelensky complains about the danger from Russian mines
Meanwhile, the armed forces of Russia and the attacked neighboring country continue to wage war on the battlefield in Ukraine. And even where the fighting has ended, deadly danger still lurks in many places.
Above all, President Zelensky lamented the omnipresent risk posed by Russian mines on Ukrainian territory. “This is the form of Russian terror that we will have to contend with for years to come,” he said in his daily video message on Thursday. He accused Russia of deliberately leaving the mines as a deadly threat to civilians as well. He is therefore certain that mine terrorism will be one of the charges against Russia after the war, said the head of state.
The Ukrainian President accuses the Russian army of having deliberately mined terrain.
(Photo: dpa)
In addition, Zelenski reported on his talks with Slovakian ministers, which served to strengthen European solidarity and to find a common line for the next package of sanctions. The Ukrainian President is calling on the West specifically to impose sanctions on Russia’s financial and energy sectors.
Most recently, the EU had set a price cap of $60 for shipped Russian oil. Although this is below the world market price, Kyiv had demanded a significantly lower price limit.
Report: 300,000 Ukrainians received Russian passports during the war
According to a media report, around 300,000 Ukrainians have received Russian passports since the beginning of the war. In October alone, after the Kremlin annexed four Ukrainian regions, 70,000 to 80,000 people were naturalized, the Kremlin-critical Internet portal Mediazona reported on Thursday, citing statistics from the Interior Ministry.
Most applicants received their new Russian passports in the southern Russian region of Rostov-on-Don and in the Crimea peninsula, annexed by Moscow since 2014.
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That will be important on Friday
The verdict against the well-known opposition figure Ilya Yashin is planned for Friday in Moscow. The 39-year-old is not only a confidant of the imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, but also an opponent of the war. Because he denounced Russian war crimes in Ukraine in a stream, the judiciary accuses him of “discrediting the armed forces”. The prosecutor is demanding nine years in prison for Yashin.
More: Don’t miss any developments in the Ukraine war – everything new in our news blog