Latest news with #Moscow-controlled
Qatar Tribune
2 days ago
- Politics
- Qatar Tribune
Ukraine and Russia swap prisoners, including one freed after 4,000 days
Kiev: Ukraine and Russia have carried out another prisoner swap, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Thursday. 'A new exchange, 84 people,' Zelensky wrote on his Telegram channel on Thursday. Both soldiers and civilians are included, the Ukrainian leader said. Zelensky thanked the United Arab Emirates for its help in organizing the exchange. The Ukrainian Staff for Prisoner of War Affairs said this was the 67th exchange since the start of the war. It took place one day before US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are due to meet for a summit in the US state of Alaska. Kiev said 33 Ukrainian soldiers and 51 civilians were returned. The exchange took place on the border with Belarus. Some of the prisoners had been detained in the Moscow-controlled separatist regions of eastern Ukraine between 2014 and 2022, including three women from the Donetsk and Luhansk areas. One man was said by Kiev to have been in captivity for more than 4,000 days since 2014. Russia has confirmed the handover. The Russian Defence Ministry reported the return of 84 Russian prisoners of war. (DPA)
Time of India
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Why US man Daniel Martindale was granted Russian citizenship in the middle of Ukraine war
An American citizen who assisted the Kremlin in targeting Ukrainian troops amid the conflict with Kyiv has received a Russian passport in Moscow. The man was identified as Daniel Richard Martindale. He was assisting Russian forces during the special military operation in Ukraine. Later, he was spirited out of eastern Ukraine by Russian special forces. Russian state television broadcast a report on Tuesday showing Martindale, with a trim beard and dressed in a suit and tie, smiling as he received his new documents, as reported by news agency Reuters. Authorities in the Moscow-controlled Donetsk claimed that he had played a 'key role' in helping Russian forces seize the village of Bohoiavlenka near the occupied city of Vuhledar in October 2023, according to The Moscow Times. The pro-Kremlin head of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, said President Vladimir Putin had signed a decree granting him citizenship. 'I, Daniel Richard Martindale, voluntarily and consciously accepting the citizenship of the Russian Federation, swear to observe the constitution,' Martindale said. Martindale, who originally hails from, told reporters in 2024 that he had done 'everything to save the lives of Russian soldiers' and requested Russian citizenship during a press conference in Moscow, The Moscow Times reported. Live Events Pushilin claimed Martindale provided intelligence that helped Russian forces capture the Ukrainian city of Kurakhove. He also stated that Martindale had to be rescued due to threats to his safety. 'When it became clear that Daniel's continued presence in that area was life-threatening, our special services conducted a highly complex rescue,' he wrote on Telegram, according to The Moscow Times. 'Dream come true': Martindale Martindale said that he dreamed of obtaining Russian citizenship as far back as ten years ago and is now very happy that his dream has come true. 'This dream entered my heart ten years ago, long before the current conflict—a conviction that Russia is not only my home but also my family.' He said that in Russia, he wants to start a family and raise children as a true citizen. He also noted that his parents dream of living in Russia as well. According to Russian state media, Martindale's family supports his decision to remain in the region and plans to visit him. What drew Martindale towards Russia Martindale grew up on farms in upstate New York and Indiana, the child of missionaries who later moved to rural China, according to a Wall Street Journal report. A brief trip over the border into Russia's Far East during the family's time in China sparked Martindale's interest in Russia. In 2018, Martindale, now in his early 30s, moved to Vladivostok, a Russian port city on the Pacific, where he studied Russian and taught English before being deported a year later for violating labor laws, the Journal said. He moved to southern Poland but was keen to return to Russia, the journal said. In 2022, Martindale entered Ukraine just days before President Vladimir Putin ordered thousands of troops into Ukraine.
LeMonde
12-07-2025
- Politics
- LeMonde
The ICC petitions to end Russia's plundering of Ukrainian museums
The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) received a formal complaint on Friday, July 11, from the advocacy group For Ukraine, for Their Freedom and Ours!. The association called on the court to issue arrest warrants as soon as possible for Russian President Vladimir Putin and eight other top Russian officials, to put a stop to the plundering of Ukrainian museums – acts that international conventions recognize as war crimes. "Russia's aggression against Ukraine has resulted in the largest spoliation of cultural heritage in Europe during an international armed conflict since World War II," the group wrote in its complaint. "Since 2014, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been accompanied by a cultural war aimed at eradicating Ukrainian identity." The association asserted: "This spoliation is systematic, widespread and organized," and "planned at the highest levels of the Russian state." The Russian federal law of March 18, 2023, allowed for the "incorporation of collections from 77 Ukrainian museums into the catalogue of Russian museums" in the Moscow-controlled regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and in Crimea, annexed in 2014. According to Ukraine's Ministry of Culture, as of July 2024, fewer than 1.2 million museum pieces remained in Crimea, compared with 12 million before the invasion.
Time of India
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
A Ukrainian journalist is released from Russian custody in occupied Crimea
A Ukrainian journalist is released from Russian custody in occupied Crimea (Image: AP) Ukrainian Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko was released Sunday after more than four years in Russian custody in Crimea, according to RFE/RL. Yesypenko was arrested and jailed on March 10, 2021, in Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, on suspicion of gathering intelligence for Ukraine, a charge he denied. In February 2022, a Russian-installed court in Crimea sentenced the dual Russian-Ukrainian citizen to six years on espionage charges that he, his employer and rights groups said were fabricated. Months later, he was also charged with possessing explosives - a claim he denies. Prosecutors later acknowledged the grenade found in his car did not bear his fingerprints. The top Moscow-controlled court in Crimea later reduced Yesypenko's sentence to five years. During his trial, he testified that he was tortured with electric shocks to extract a false confession. "For more than four years, Vlad was arbitrarily punished for a crime he did not commit. He paid too high of a price for reporting the truth about what was taking place inside Russia-occupied Crimea," RFE/RL chief executive Stephen Capus said, adding that Yesypenko had been "tortured, physically and psychologically." by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Buy One, Get One Free, Up To 50% Discount, Expiring Soon Original Adidas Get Offer Undo Capus thanked the US and Ukrainian governments for "working with us to ensure that Vlad's unjust detention was not prolonged." In a post on Telegram, Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak thanked everyone who helped secure Yesypenko's release. He was freed shortly after longtime RFE/RL correspondent Ihar Karnei was released from prison in Belarus, following a rare visit by a senior US official.
23-06-2025
- Politics
A Ukrainian journalist is released from Russian custody in occupied Crimea
Ukrainian Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko was released Sunday after more than four years in Russian custody in Crimea, according to RFE/RL. Yesypenko was arrested and jailed on March 10, 2021, in Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, on suspicion of gathering intelligence for Ukraine, a charge he denied. In February 2022, a Russian-installed court in Crimea sentenced the dual Russian-Ukrainian citizen to six years on espionage charges that he, his employer and rights groups said were fabricated. Months later, he was also charged with possessing explosives — a claim he denies. Prosecutors later acknowledged the grenade found in his car did not bear his fingerprints. The top Moscow-controlled court in Crimea later reduced Yesypenko's sentence to five years. During his trial, he testified that he was tortured with electric shocks to extract a false confession. 'For more than four years, Vlad was arbitrarily punished for a crime he did not commit. He paid too high of a price for reporting the truth about what was taking place inside Russia-occupied Crimea,' RFE/RL chief executive Stephen Capus said, adding that Yesypenko had been 'tortured, physically and psychologically.' Capus thanked the U.S. and Ukrainian governments for 'working with us to ensure that Vlad's unjust detention was not prolonged.' In a post on Telegram, Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak thanked everyone who helped secure Yesypenko's release. released from prison in Belarus, following a rare visit by a senior U.S. official.
