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Russia on Wednesday released 10 foreign prisoners of war captured in Ukraine, brokered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi foreign ministry said.
The list includes U.S., British, Croatian, Moroccan and Swedish nationals, the ministry said in a statement, adding that a plane carrying prisoners landed in the country.
“The relevant Saudi authorities have received and transferred them from Russia to Saudi Arabia and are facilitating the process in their respective countries,” the statement said.
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The ministry has not identified the prisoners. They were five Britons, two Americans, a Croat, a Moroccan and a Swede, a Saudi official said.
Since Russia’s invasion on February 24, large numbers of foreigners have traveled to Ukraine to fight. Some of them have been captured by Russian troops, and others are foreigners who claim they are not fighters in the country.
Reuters could not immediately determine whether the freed groups included Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner and Morocco-born Brahim Saadoun, who were arrested earlier this year and then reunited at a family in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). The court sentenced to death a Russian agent in eastern Ukraine.
Prince Mohammed maintains close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, including within the framework of the OPEC group of oil producers, despite intense pressure from Washington, Riyadh’s traditional ally, to isolate Russia.
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Both Ukrainian and Russian troops have captured hundreds of enemy fighters and conducted a handful of prisoner-of-war exchanges since the conflict began.
The head of the U.N. human rights mission in Ukraine said earlier this month that Russia would not allow access to prisoners of war, adding that the U.N. had evidence that some had been tortured and ill-treated in what could amount to war crimes.
Russia denies torture or other ill-treatment of prisoners of war.
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