Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up RIYADH, Sept 21 (Reuters) – Russia on Wednesday released 10 foreign prisoners of war captured in Ukraine after mediation by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said. The released prisoners were American, British, Croatian, Moroccan and Swedish nationals, the ministry said in a statement, adding that a plane carrying the prisoners landed in the kingdom. “Competent Saudi authorities have received and transported them from Russia to the kingdom and are facilitating the procedures for their respective countries,” the statement said. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up The ministry did not identify the detainees. A Saudi official said there were five Britons, two Americans, one Croatian, one Moroccan and one Swedish national. British Prime Minister Liz Truss hailed the release of the British nationals on Twitter as “extremely welcome news” after “months of uncertainty and suffering for them and their families”. British MP Robert Jenrick said Aiden Ashlin was among those released. He was arrested earlier this year and sentenced to death by a court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), one of Russia’s proxies in eastern Ukraine. Russia also released US citizens Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 27, a family spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday. read more The couple, both from Alabama, were arrested in June while fighting in eastern Ukraine, where they went to support Ukrainian troops resisting the Russian invasion. Large numbers of foreigners have traveled to Ukraine to fight since Russia invaded on February 24. Some of them have been caught by Russian forces, along with other foreigners in the country who say they were not combatants. Reuters could not immediately ascertain whether the freed group included Britons Shaun Pinner and Moroccan-born Brahim Saadoun, who were also arrested and sentenced to death in Donetsk. A Swedish citizen, who was arrested at the port of Mariupol and was facing a possible death sentence under DPRK laws, was among those released, Swedish Foreign Minister Anne Linde confirmed. “I can confirm that the Swede who was detained by Russian forces in May is free and on his way to Sweden,” Linde told Swedish news agency TT on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Prince Mohammed maintains close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, including within the OPEC+ oil producer group, despite intense pressure from Washington, Riyadh’s traditional ally, to isolate Russia. Both Ukrainian and Russian forces have captured hundreds of enemy fighters since the conflict began, with a handful of prisoner exchanges. The head of the UN human rights mission in Ukraine said earlier this month that Russia does not allow access to prisoners of war, adding that the UN has evidence that some have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment that could amount to war crimes. read more Russia denies torture or other forms of ill-treatment of captured soldiers. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Reported by Aziz El Yaakoubi. additional reporting by Niklas Pollard in Stockholm; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Cynthia Osterman; Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
