MOSCOW: Russia will free two Ukrainian-Hungarian nationals captured while fighting for Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday, after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban appealed for their release in a phone call.
Ukraine accused the two countries of having “manipulated the sensitive issue of prisoners of war” and of staging the release as a PR stunt ahead of parliamentary elections in Hungary in April.
In a meeting with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto in Moscow, Putin said the two soldiers were “forcibly conscripted” by Ukraine and that he personally made the decision to release them.
“As the prime minister requested, you will be able to take them with you on the plane you arrived on and the plane you will return to Budapest on,” Putin told Szijjarto.
Hungary is one of the few European countries to maintain close ties with Russia amid its Ukraine offensive and has consistently opposed military aid for Kyiv.
