Vladimir Putin’s allies have lashed out at the West. even after last night’s historic prisoner swap.
Two years of negotiations finally culminated in the release of 24 prisoners this week, as individuals were traded between Russia, the US, Norway, Germany, Poland and Slovenia in the biggest exchange since the end of the Cold War.
It’s a huge feat of international diplomacy, and US president Joe Biden praised other countries, saying they joined “difficult, complex negotiations at my request and I personally thank them”.
Over in Russia, president Putin looked very happy to welcome the prisoners back.
He shook many of their hands, brought bouquets, and hugged the assassin Vadim Krasikov and bringing bouquets for other, newly-freed Russians.
He thanked them for “your loyalty to your oath and your duty to your Motherland, which has never forgotten you for a moment”.
But, amid all the friendliness, his allies saw it as an opportunity to bash their opponents in the West.
Former Russian president, deputy chair of Russia’s security council and close ally to Putin, Dmitry Medvedev, wrote on his Telegram channel that traitors should rot and die in prison.
However, he added that it was more useful to Russia to get its own people home.
He concluded: “Let the traitors now feverishly adopt new names and actively disguise themselves under witness protection programmes.”
Meanwhile, Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko claimed Biden “had nothing to do with” the diplomatic feat.
According to Moscow Times, he said: “Of course, someone like the US president will boost his authority with this, even though he had nothing to do with it.
“Special services carried out negotiations, not even diplomatics were involved.
“We had agreed to do this quietly [and diplomats] started yelling to the entire world.
“This should be done quietly, it’s people’s lives.”
Reports from CNN show Biden and his vice president Kamala Harris – likely to be the Democrats’ nominee for the presidential election – were heavily involved in securing the prisoner swap.