"Turkey releases Ukrainian POWs without notice, Russia furious claiming 'breach of agreement'

Russia has been backstabbed by the only ally in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Five high-ranking Ukrainian military prisoners were released from Turkey and returned to their home country, an event of which Russia was entirely unaware. This has led to Russia's indignation, accusing Turkey of breaking the agreement and escalating tensions, as reported by The Wall Street Journal on the 8th (local time). The five Ukrainian commanders, who were captured after resisting Russia for three months at a steel mill in Mariupol at the beginning of the war, returned home on the 8th. They were accompanied by Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, who had a meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey, in Turkey the day before.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine (fifth from the left) is taking a commemorative photo with the five former commanders of the Mariupol garrison who had been detained as prisoners and were staying in Turkey, and government officials on the plane leaving Istanbul, Turkey for Ukraine on the 8th. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said, 'Russia received no information about the repatriation of Ukrainian prisoners of war,' and vehemently protested against Turkey, which was the mediator in the negotiations and had detained the prisoners.

These prisoners were commanders of the garrison in Mariupol, a strategic location in southern Ukraine. In February last year, when Russia invaded Ukraine and besieged the entire city, pouring indiscriminate bombings, the Ukrainian forces also tenaciously resisted, taking the Azovstal steel mill as their last base. However, they were defeated and approximately 1,000 were captured as prisoners. The situation changed in September last year when Turkey, a NATO member, intervened. With mediation from Turkey and Saudi Arabia, Russia exchanged the Ukrainian soldiers captured at the Azovstal steel mill for Russian prisoners. However, it stipulated that the 'Ukrainian commanders must stay in Turkey until the end of the war.'

Russia entrusted the prisoners to Turkey because it believed in the political alliance between the two countries. President Erdogan did not participate in the sanctions against Russia by the West and continued to import weapons and natural gas from Russia. Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, referred to President Erdogan, who was successfully reelected last May, as his 'dear friend,' and there was even discussion of holding a summit.

However, President Erdogan was not a 'friend loyal only to Putin.' During a meeting with President Zelensky, he declared that 'there is no doubt that Ukraine has the right to join NATO,' expressing his open support. His calculation was to increase Turkey's stature in the international community through a 'tightrope diplomacy' between Russia and Ukraine.

Instead of 'writing off' Turkey, Russia turned the blame on NATO. Kremlin spokesman Peskov claimed, 'The transfer of the prisoners to Ukraine is the result of strong pressure on Turkey by the member countries ahead of next week's NATO summit.'