Russia U-turn on Azov prisoner exchange: Putin spokesman now dismisses

Created: 05/23/2022Updated: 05/23/2022 18:43

The EU is struggling for an oil embargo against Russia.

Putin's closest ally in Ukraine should not be exchanged for Mariupol soldiers.

The news ticker on diplomacy in the Ukraine war.

• Escalated Ukraine conflict: Russia agrees to continue negotiations with Ukraine.

• Energy independence of the EU

  : Baltic states stop importing Russian electricity.

  In the struggle for an EU oil embargo, Hungary is demanding “an enormous amount of money”.

• Russia U-turn on Azov prisoner exchange: Putin spokesman now dismisses

• This news ticker

  on the Ukraine-Russia negotiations and war diplomacy

   is constantly updated.

Update May 23, 6:26 p.m

.: Ukraine is calling on the international community to allow safe passage for Ukrainian ships amid the widening global food crisis.

In the Ukraine war, safe conduct must be granted for grain exports, especially from Odessa.

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Swyrydenko told the BBC: "It would take us five, six, seven years to transport all that grain by road or rail.

That's why it's so important for us now to get the ports free."

Currently, Russia is blocking the export of grain from ports in southern Ukraine.

In East Africa and the Middle East, the already existing emergencies to supply the population with food are therefore intensifying.

Russian diplomat resigns: Ukraine war is a crime against the Russian and Ukrainian people

Update from May 23, 5:18 p.m

.: With the words “enough is enough”, a senior Russian diplomat at the UN headquarters in Geneva resigned from his post.

"In the Russian Foreign Ministry, disinformation and propaganda have reached levels reminiscent of the Soviet era of the 1930s," he wrote on the LinkedIn social network on Monday.

He was alluding to the time of the dictator Joseph Stalin.

"It's about warmongering, lies and hatred" - no longer about diplomacy, he wrote.

He sharply condemned the Ukraine war: Russia's attack was a crime against the Ukrainian and Russian people.

He criticized that those who planned this war wanted to stay in power forever, live in tacky palaces and sail on yachts.

"For this they are ready to sacrifice as many lives as necessary."

Russia U-turn on Azov prisoner exchange: Putin spokesman now dismisses

Update from May 23, 4:55 p.m .:

Russia does not want to exchange the Ukrainian Mariupol fighters for the pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk.

, Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov,

confirmed this on Monday.

The oligarch Medvedchuk is a civilian, which means he cannot be exchanged for the Ukrainian soldiers captured in Mariupol, the statement said.

Medvedchuk was arrested by Ukrainian troops in April.

He is considered Putin's closest ally in Ukraine.

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Ukraine conflict: EU struggles over oil embargo against Russia - Hungary demands "enormous sum of money"

Update from May 23, 3:30 p.m .:

In the struggle for an EU oil embargo against Russia, Hungary continues to put pressure on its European partners.

At a ministerial meeting in Brussels ahead of a week's EU summit, Hungarian Justice Minister Judit Varga said Monday her country needs "an enormous amount of money" to invest in alternatives to Russian oil.

Hungary is "in ongoing negotiations with the EU Commission," Varga said.

So far, however, there is no suitable plan.

"We are waiting for a new proposal and then we can make progress," she stressed.

The Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto had previously put the money required at "15 to 18 billion euros" and asked the EU Commission for a proposal for financing from EU funds.

In Brussels, this was met with astonishment.

The Hungarian demand was "exaggerated," it said.

Hungary's Justice Minister Judit Varga said Monday her country needs "an enormous amount of money" to invest in alternatives to Russian oil (stock image, April 2021).

© Paulo Spranger / GlobalImagens / Imago

Ukraine conflict: 21-year-old soldier found guilty in first Ukrainian war crimes trial

Update from May 23, 12:13 p.m

.: It is the first Ukrainian war crimes trial since the Russian invasion on February 24.

A verdict has now been made in Kyiv: The accused 21-year-old must be sentenced to life imprisonment.

After the man's confession, the court found it proven that the Russian tanker shot a 62-year-old Ukrainian civilian during the battle.

Picture from April 30: The Russian soldier accused of war crimes in court in Kyiv © Natacha Pisarenko

War diplomacy: Kyiv plans to confiscate money from Russia 'supporters'

Update from May 23, 10:49 a.m

.: Ukraine wants to be able to confiscate the assets of supporters of the Russian invasion in the future.

, Volodymyr Zelenskyy

signed a corresponding law.

The portal quoted the Ukrainian president as saying that the budget of Ukraine should also be helped in this way.

As early as May 14, Zelenskyi passed a law according to which parties supporting Russia's war of aggression can be banned.

For example, the ban is intended to hit parties that justify or deny Russia's war against Ukraine.

As early as March, Ukrainian authorities halted the activities of nearly a dozen parties allegedly linked to Russia.

Diplomacy in the Ukraine war: Baltic states stop importing Russian electricity

Update from May 23, 7:01 a.m

.: The Baltic States have stopped importing electricity from Russia because of the Ukraine war.

"This is an important step on our way to energy independence," Lithuanian Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys told AFP.

"By refusing to import Russian energy resources, we are refusing to finance the aggressor," the minister said.

Russian electricity accounted for 17 percent of Lithuania's electricity imports last year.

Latvia imported its last Russian electricity in early May, while Lithuania and Estonia stopped purchasing electricity on Sunday.

The Baltic States had been working for years to gain energy independence from Moscow.

To do this, they expanded domestic power generation on the one hand and strengthened connections to Scandinavia on the other.

Electricity pylons in Estonia: Because of the Ukraine war, no more energy from Russia should flow here.

© Margus Ansu/Imago

During Ukraine war: Putin meets Lukashenko in Sochi 

Update from May 23, 6:08 a.m

.: Vladimir Putin meets Alexander Lukashenko: Russia's President wants to meet the Belarusian ruler in Sochi this Monday.

The central topic is the integration cooperation between the two countries in a union state, the Interfax agency said at night.

Since the controversial presidential election in 2020, in which Lukashenko declared himself the winner without recognition from the West, Minsk has become increasingly dependent on Moscow.

Lukashenko emphasizes that Belarus will remain independent.

But a union state between the two countries that had only existed on paper for a long time is increasingly taking shape.

International political observers consider the possibility of Belarus joining Russia to be quite real.

Ukraine-Russia negotiations: Moscow wants to continue talks with Kyiv

Update from May 22, 9:35 p.m .:

According to its chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky, Russia is ready to resume negotiations with Ukraine.

"For our part, we are ready to continue the dialogue," Medinsky said in an interview with Belarusian state television on Sunday.

The ball is in Ukraine's court, at whose instigation the talks were suspended.

"Russia has never refused negotiations," Medinsky said.

Ukraine negotiations: Poland Andrzej Duda delivers a speech in the Ukrainian parliament

Update from May 22, 1:08 p.m

.: President of Poland Andrzej Duda gave a speech in the Ukrainian parliament - as the first foreign head of state since the start of the Ukraine war on February 24.

Nobody can disturb Polish-Ukrainian unity, said Duda in his speech, which Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Honcharenko published live on Facebook.

The parliamentarians rose again and again to applaud the guest from Poland.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was also present.

Duda's solidarity visit was surprisingly announced in the morning.

The 50-year-old traveled to Ukraine for the second time since the outbreak of war.

Among other things, Duda is committed to ensuring that the neighboring country is granted EU candidate status as quickly as possible.

Almost 3.5 million Ukrainian refugees have entered Poland since the Russian war of aggression began on February 24.

Poland has granted by far the largest number of the approximately 6.5 million refugees from Ukraine.

Around 44 million people lived in Ukraine before the start of the war.

Diplomacy in the Ukraine war: According to a report, Lithuania stops energy imports from Russia

Update from May 22, 12:18 p.m

.: Lithuania stops its energy imports from Russia.

The

reports this and tweets that the country would be the first Baltic state to take this step.

Update from May 22, 11:27 a.m

.: Russia has imposed entry bans on other US citizens.

The well- known

calls this a "largely symbolic step" and went through the expanded list of 963 people on Saturday (May 21).

The US newspaper noticed that it included, for example, US President Joe Biden, his vicar Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken - but not ex-US President Donald Trump.

The

also did not find employees of the conservative US broadcaster Fox News on the list.

The channel has long been said to be close to Trump.

However, representatives of other US media such as the

or CNN have now been sanctioned by Moscow.

Critics had accused the right-wing populist Trump of being too close to Russian President Vladimir Putin during his tenure.

The entry ban list is a reaction by the Kremlin to the fact that Washington had imposed entry bans because of the Ukraine war.

Donald Trump (archive image) may continue to enter Russia.

© Brendan Smialowski/AFP

Ukraine-Russia negotiations: oligarch and Putin friend against Azov fighters?

First report

: Moscow – He is a Russian oligarch and is considered a Putin confidant: Viktor

Medvedchuk.

A possible exchange of Medvechuk for captured Ukrainian fighters from the Azov regiment is now under discussion.

"We will study the issue," Russian foreign policy chief and negotiator Leonid Slutsky said on May 21.

This is reported by the Interfax and RIA Novosti news agencies.

The Ukrainian politician and entrepreneur Medvedchuk, who is one of the richest people in the country, was accused of high treason in Ukraine last year and placed under house arrest.

However, shortly after the start of the Ukraine war on February 24, he went into hiding before being arrested in mid-April.

Weeks ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested exchanging Medvedchuk for Ukrainian prisoners.

Ukraine negotiations: Putin ally Medvechuk against Azov fighters?

On Friday (May 20), Moscow reported the “complete liberation” of the Azov steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine.

The last soldiers in the industrial complex, including members of the Azov regiment, surrendered, the Russian army said.

They had holed up in the bunkers for weeks and defended the port city against the Russian occupiers.

Handout from the Ukrainian Press Office: oligarch and Putin ally Viktor Medvedchuk © Uncredited/Ukrainian Presidential Press Office/AP/dpa

The Azov regiment is described by Moscow as "neo-Nazi".

Next Thursday, Russia's highest court is due to consider an application to classify the regiment as a "terrorist organization," which could make it more difficult to exchange these prisoners.

After the capture of Mariupol, however, several politicians in Russia also spoke out against a prisoner exchange and called for the Mariupol fighters to be brought to justice.

Slutski later said the same thing, partially correcting his statement.

He announced via Telegram that the Azov fighters would have to be brought to justice in any case.