Prisoners in exchange for lifting sanctions: what scheme did Kadyrov have in mind?

The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, offers to exchange Ukrainian prisoners, but instead asks to lift US sanctions on his family, including his mother and daughter. Probably, such an “invention” was invented by Kremlin officials.

About this Channel 24 said candidate of political sciences, international relations expert Stanislav Zhelikhovsky, noting that this is being done for a reason.

Putin is testing the waters for removing sanctions

According to an international relations expert, Putin’s apostate’s request may be a sign that the sanctions already imposed against certain individuals or sectors of the Russian economy are working and have a painful effect. Therefore, Kadyrov offers various kinds of “gestures of goodwill,” in particular, the return of prisoners of war to Ukraine.

There is also an assumption that this may be a kind of exploration of the soil by Vladimir Putin through his subjects, such as Kadyrov.

Test bullet. If this works, then Russia will be able to demand the lifting of painful sanctions at the highest level. Perhaps he will offer to return more prisoners or make some other concessions,” Zhelikhovsky said.

The Kremlin is playing the game, and if this succeeds, the Russians will be able to demand more and more concessions to give its economy a new lease of life. Of course, Ukraine wants to return its prisoners of war, but here it is necessary to pursue an extremely balanced policy in order to be able to return the prisoners and not allow the weakening of the sanctions pressure on Russia. This could negatively affect Ukraine’s situation in the war.

By the way, on January 3, 2024, the largest prisoner exchange took place since the very beginning of the full-scale invasion. 230 Ukrainians returned home. Note that the last exchange of prisoners took place 5 months ago, on August 7, 2023, and after that Russia froze this process.

Sanctions against Kadyrov's accomplices

The President of Ukraine in December 2023 imposed sanctions against individuals and legal entities from Russia or associated with the aggressor country. The list also included accomplices of Ramzan Kadyrov.

In particular, the so-called “Secretary of the Security Council of the Chechen Republic” Apti Alaudinov, to whom the SBU had previously declared suspicion. In March–April 2022, Kadyrov’s apostate was in the combat zone, in particular, in Rubezhnoye, Kremennaya, and Severodonetsk. He led the Akhmat unit of the Russian army.

Also on the sanctions list was Ramzan Tsitsulaev, who was previously the representative of the head of Chechnya in Ukraine.