On Monday, the Ukrainian court found a Russian soldier guilty of a war crime and announced a death sentence for the soldier. After this move of Kyiv, Moscow had made it clear that it would be premature to consider a prisoner swap with Kyiv before Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered to the Russian troops would stand trial.
Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said Moscow would consider a prison swap with Kyiv after the surrendered Ukrainian fighters "are appropriately convicted, sentenced." He added, "before that, all talk of exchange is premature."
Last week, hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers of the vital port city Mariupol in the Country's southeast surrendered after holding a long fight in Azovstal steelworks for many weeks.
Among the Ukrainian fighters who surrendered themselves were members of the Azov regiment. This regiment is a former paramilitary unit integrated into the Ukrainian armed forces. Russia has described this unit had previous links to far-right groups such as the neo-Nazi organization.
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