The Russian Parliament will consider prohibit the exchange of Russian prisoners of war with Ukrainian fighters Order of Azovsaid today its president State Dumaafter the surrender of Ukrainian defenders of the steelworks Azofstal of Mariupol to Russian forces.
The Azov Ordera once nationalist militia incorporated into the National Guard of Ukraine, became the resistance symbol against Russian troops in the city, which has experienced some of the fiercest fighting in what Moscow calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
However, Moscow considers the order to be the main perpetrator of the alleged Russian radical anti-Russian nationalism in Ukraine or even Nazism from which he says he must protect them Russian speakers of Ukraine.
Vitsislav Volodin, Speaker of the Duma, stated that its members are “Nazi criminals” which should not be included in prisoner exchanges.
“They are war criminals and we must do everything we can to bring them to justice,” he said.
The Duma website states that it has asked the parliamentary defense and security committees to prepare instructions for this purpose.
The order denies being fascist, racist or neo-Nazi and Ukraine says it has reformed and moved away from its radical nationalist origins.
Kyiv also denies that Russian-speaking people are being persecuted in Ukraine and says its claim that it has a fascist agenda of human rights abuses, which is repeated daily in the Russian media, is an unfounded pretext for Russian aggression.
Moscow reported earlier today that over 250 Ukrainian fighters at the Azovstal steel plantthe last stronghold of the Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol, were surrendered and that 51 will be hospitalized for serious injuries.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov said President Vladimir Putin had guaranteed that everyone would be treated “in accordance with international standards”.
Russia and Ukraine have already exchanged several prisoners.
Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said “an exchange process will take place” for the return of the troops.
But Leonid Slutsky, who is in Moscow’s talks with Ukraine and heads the Duma’s international affairs committee, called the ousted Azov fighters “Animals in human form” and said they should receive the death penalty.
“They do not deserve to live after the heinous crimes against humanity they have committed and continue to commit against our prisoners,” he told the Duma.
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