(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Ukraine and Russia swapped four captured servicemen two from each side yesterday in the latest prisoner exchange between the sworn foes, the authorities of both countries said.
'Two more Ukrainians were released from captivity. These are our border guards Bogdan Martson and Igor Dzyubak, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko wrote on Facebook.
Martson and Dzyubak were detained in October last year near a part of the frontier between two countries in the Ukrainian northeastern Sumy region.
The two men were accused of illegally crossing the Russian border.
The Ukrainians were exchanged for two Russian servicemen, Vladimir Kuznetsov and Askar Kulub, the Russian FSB security service confirmed.
They were identified as FSB officers and detained on suspicion of encroachment on Ukraine's territorial integrity in 2017.
The ties between Ukraine and its former Soviet master Russia are in tatters since a pro-Europe popular uprising in February 2014 in Kyiv ousted a Kremlin-backed president.
A month later Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula and war erupted in the east of Ukraine between government forces and Russian-backed rebels that has since claimed more than 10,000 lives.
Ukraine and its Western allies accuse the Kremlin of funnelling troops and arms across the border.
In December 2017, Ukraine and Russian-backed rebels exchanged more than 300 prisoners in the latest swap between sides.
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