Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have expressed their “satisfaction” following a Riyadh-brokered prisoner swap with Ukraine involving foreign fighters.
During a telephone conversation on Thursday evening, the two heads of state expressed their “satisfaction in connection with the transfer of foreign prisoners of war to Saudi Arabia (…), which took place under the personal mediation of the crown prince,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
Kyiv announced on Wednesday that it had recovered 215 Ukrainian and foreign militants during an exchange with Moscow, which in turn had recovered 55 Russian prisoners, including ex-MP Viktor Medvedchuk, a close friend of Mr Putin’s man accused of high treason in Ukraine is accused.
Shortly before, Ryad had announced the transfer of five Britons, two Americans, one Moroccan, one Swede and one Croat to Saudi Arabia as part of this exchange.
The five released Brits returned to the UK on Thursday.