Russia says prisoner exchange not linked to Ukraine peace talks

Kremlin denies speculation its release of 24 Western prisoners could form part of negotiations over ending the war

The historic prisoner swap between Russia and the West was not linked to peace talks with Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Friday.
Almost two dozen political prisoners held by Russia were released to their families, while Vladimir Putin welcomed back eight Russians freed in exchange, including an FSB hitman who had been held in Germany.
There was speculation that the complex feat of diplomacy could be part of a ceasefire negotiation between Moscow and Kyiv.
But Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, denied any link and said potential talks on Ukraine would be based on “different principles”.
“If we talk about Ukraine and more complex international problems, there are completely different principles,” he said. He added: “The work there is conducted in a completely different mode.”
Mr Peskov said the decision to release prisoners including Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter jailed on sham espionage charges, was made “with the aim of returning Russian citizens detained and imprisoned in foreign countries”.
The freed Russians received the red carpet treatment in Moscow, where Putin welcomed them back to the “motherland” and promised them state honours.
They included Vadim Krasikov, the agent of the FSB (Russia’s federal security service) convicted in Germany of assassinating a Chechen separatist in Berlin in 2019.
Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser who played a leading role in the prisoner exchange, also dismissed any link to peace in Ukraine, saying the two issues were on “separate tracks”.
He added: “One is really about the practical issue of producing this exchange. The other is a much more complex question where the Ukrainians will be in the lead and the United States will consult closely with all of our allies to support them when they are prepared to step forward and engage in that kind of diplomacy.”
The exchange was brokered between the US which is supplying weapons to Ukraine to kill Russians on the battlefield, and a Russia growing in its hostility to the West.
Sam Greene, of the Center for European Policy Analysis, said the Kremlin could be using the deal to isolate Kyiv on the international stage.
“By making this exchange, Moscow is seeking to demonstrate that (a) it can negotiate in good faith, and (b) it is willing to do deals with the West,” he said.
“This will strengthen the hand of those who have been calling for Western governments to impose a ceasefire on Kyiv and weaken those who see such a ceasefire as detrimental to Ukrainian and European security in the near, medium and long terms.”
Western analysts and Ukrainian officials have long warned that Russia is seeking to divide the West, to reduce the leverage Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, has at the negotiating table.
Mr Zelensky’s office did not respond to a request for comment.