Moscow, Russia

Russia on Monday (Jan 15) said that it has convicted over 200 Ukrainian prisoners of war to severe prison terms, some of which were life sentences.

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The development comes when the Kremlin is about to complete nearly two years of its offensive against Ukraine.

Russia is believed to have held thousands of Ukrainian troops captive during the siege of the port city of Mariupol in 2022.  

International rights organisations and Kiev have criticised Moscow's POW trials calling the move illegal. 

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"More than 200 Ukrainian military personnel have been sentenced to long prison sentences for committing murder of civilians and mistreating prisoners (of war)," Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia's Investigative Committee, said in an interview to state news outlet RIA Novosti.

He further claimed that Moscow would continue its efforts to prosecute Ukrainian military personnel, including "high-level officials."

While some Ukrainian prisoners of war were transferred to Russia, many of them were detained in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine.

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In the interview, Bastrykin did not clarify if the troops were sentenced in Russia or occupied Ukraine.

However, as per news agency AFP reports, state-run outlet RT quoted an Investigative Committee source as saying that 242 soldiers were handed sentences in occupied Ukraine.

Russia and Ukraine, on January 3, released a statement saying that they had swapped hundreds of captive soldiers in their very first exchange in months.  

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'Pro-Ukrainian sabotage'

Bastrykin also shared details about Russia's battle against pro-Ukrainian sabotage.

He revealed that the authorities had not only uncovered railway sabotage in regions close to the Ukrainian border like Bryansk, but also in the Siberian regions of Tyumen, Tomsk, Novosibirsk and the northern Komi region.

"In the conditions of the special military operation, we can see Ukrainian special services are trying to wage their subversive activities, using terrorist methods, despite possible accidental victims," Bastrykin said.

He further warned that Russians were being "misled... promised rewards and pushed to commit illegal acts."

Recently, Russia and Belarus have been affected by a series of mysterious train derailments that reportedly were aimed at obstructing army supply routes to Ukraine.

Bastrykin said that the number of cases of extremism rose by 62 per cent in the year 2023 as compared to 2022, indicating that Moscow was intensifying its clampdown on opponents while troops were fighting in Ukraine.

He stated that Moscow had filed 273 cases for spreading fakes on the Russian army and 81 cases over "discrediting" Moscow's forces.

Ukraine and Russia swap prisoners of war in first deal in months 

Earlier on Jan 3, Russia and Ukraine had exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war in the first such deal in nearly five months which was mediated by the United Arab Emirates. 

Moscow said that it was a complex negotiation, and the UAE was involved in it. Without providing details, Ukraine's POW coordination centre also briefly acknowledged the UAE's role in the exchange. 

Russia said Ukraine had handed over 248 military personnel, while Kyiv welcomed back 230 people - 224 soldiers and six civilians. 

(With inputs from agencies)