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Russia's Special Operation in Ukraine
On February 24, 2022, Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate and defend the inhabitants of the Donbass region, where people have been suffering from a blockade and regular attacks by the Kiev regime's forces since 2014.

Return of Azov Leaders from Turkey to Ukraine is Violation of Agreements: Kremlin

© Sputnik . Russian Defence Ministry / Go to the mediabankIn this handout video grab released by the Russian Defence Ministry, Ukrainian soldiers of the Azov battalion who have surrendered at the Azovstal steel plant walk on a road in the Russia-controlled port city of Mariupol, Donetsk People's Republic
In this handout video grab released by the Russian Defence Ministry, Ukrainian soldiers of the Azov battalion who have surrendered at the Azovstal steel plant walk on a road in the Russia-controlled port city of Mariupol, Donetsk People's Republic - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 08.07.2023
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The return of the leaders of the nationalist Azov* regiment (banned in Russia) from Turkey to Ukraine is a violation of the terms of the existing agreements both on the part of Ankara and Kiev, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Sputnik on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the leaders of the Azov regiment had returned to Ukraine from Turkey.
"The return of the Azov leaders from Turkey to Ukraine is nothing more than a direct violation of the terms of the existing agreements. Moreover, in this case, the conditions were violated by both the Ukrainian side and the Turkish side," Peskov said, when asked the relevant question.
No one informed Moscow about the step, the Kremlin spokesman said, adding that under the terms of the agreements reached, the Azov leaders had been supposed to stay in Turkey until the end of the Ukraine conflict.
According to Peskov, "this decision to extradite the leaders of Azov to Zelensky in violation of existing agreements, to return them to Ukraine, of course, is directly related to the failures in the counteroffensive. These are the failures that the troops of the Kyiv regime are now facing every day."
Flag on the Russian Defense Ministry building on Frunzenskaya embankment in Moscow - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 03.07.2023
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Azov, a regiment within the National Guard of Ukraine, gained notoriety due to the neo-Nazi views of many of its militants and human rights abuses committed by the group since the beginning of the Donbas crisis.
Last year, Russian troops surrounded Mariupol on March 7 and liberated virtually the entire city by April 21. At the Azovstal plant, Russian forces managed to block more than two thousand Ukrainian soldiers and militants of Azov. In mid-May, they began to surrender, and on May 20, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the complete liberation of Mariupol.
Denis Pushilin, the acting head of the Donetsk People's Republic said in September 2022 that as a result of the exchange of prisoners with Ukraine, 215 people, including the leaders of the Azov regiment, had been transferred to Kiev. The exchange of prisoners was also confirmed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In January 2023, the Hurriyet newspaper reported, citing Turkish sources, that the Azov leaders were in Turkey at Russia's demand.
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