Russians and Ukrainians said to be discussing prisoner swap

Riyadh — Representatives from Russia and Ukraine met in the United Arab Emirates last week to discuss the possibility of a prisoner-of-war swap that would be linked to a resumption of Russian ammonia exports, which go to Asia and Africa via a Ukrainian pipeline, three sources with knowledge of the meeting said.

The talks were being mediated by the UAE and did not include the UN despite its central role in negotiating the ongoing initiative to export agricultural products from three Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea, the sources said. Ammonia is used to make fertiliser. 

The talks aim to remove remaining obstacles in the initiative extended last week and ease global food shortages by unblocking Ukrainian and Russian exports, they added.

The sources asked not to be identified so they could freely discuss sensitive matters.

The Russian and Ukrainian representatives travelled to the UAE capital Abu Dhabi on November 17 where they discussed allowing Russia to resume ammonia exports in exchange for a prisoner swap that would release a large number of Ukrainian and Russian prisoners, the sources said.

The progress of the talks could not be immediately established.

“Releasing our prisoners of war is part of negotiations over opening Russian ammonia exports,” said Vasyl Bodnar, Ukraine’s ambassador to Turkey. “Of course we look for ways to do that at any opportunity”. Bodnar said he was unaware whether a meeting had taken place in the UAE.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russian officials would work to free Russian fertilisers stuck in European ports and to resume ammonia exports.

The UAE’s foreign ministry, Russia, and Ukraine’s defence and foreign ministries didn’t respond to requests for comment. A UN spokesperson declined to comment when if the body was involved in the talks.

The export of Russian ammonia would be via an existing pipeline to the Black Sea, the sources said. The pipeline was designed to pump as much as 2.5-million tonnes of ammonia gas a year from Russia’s Volga region to Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Pivdennyi, known as Yuzhny in Russian, near Odesa for onward shipment to international buyers. It was shut down after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

Exports of ammonia weren’t part of the renewal of the UN-backed grains corridor deal that restored commercial shipping from Ukraine.

Terms and conditions

Last week, Rebeca Grynspan, the secretary-general of UN agency UNCTAD, who leads the negotiations on fertiliser, said she was optimistic Russia and Ukraine could agree to the terms for the export of Russian ammonia via the pipeline, without giving details.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly set several conditions before allowing Russia to resume its ammonia exports via the pipeline, including a prisoner swap and reopening of Mykolaiv port in the Black Sea.

Neither Russia nor Ukraine have released official figures on how many prisoners of war they have taken since Russia invaded. On October 29, Zelensky said Russia had freed 1,031 prisoners since March.

Russia and Ukraine have disclosed few details about direct meetings after ceasefire talks in the first few weeks after Moscow’s invasion were abandoned.

Abu Dhabi’s efforts follow those of Saudi Arabia, which scored a diplomatic win by securing freedom for foreign fighters captured in Ukraine in September.

The UAE, like Saudi Arabia, is a member of the Opec+ oil alliance that includes Russia, It has also maintained good ties with Moscow despite Western pressure to help isolate Russia over the invasion.

UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan visited Moscow last month where he and Putin discussed the possibility of Abu Dhabi mediating for an ammonia deal, two of the sources said.

Ukraine is a major producer of grains and oilseeds. Russia is the world’s largest wheat exporter and a major supplier of fertilisers to global markets.

Since July, Moscow has repeatedly said its shipments of grain and fertilisers, though not directly targeted by sanctions, are constrained because sanctions make it harder for exporters to process payments or to obtain vessels and insurance. 

Reuters