Russian propaganda attempts to discredit Ukraine ahead of Switzerland peace summit

Ukrainian military observer Oleksandr Kovalenko shared his opinion on his Telegram channel. 

According to Kovalenko, a narrative has been launched in Russia that the Ukrainian authorities are refusing to return Ukrainian prisoners of war, selecting certain privileged individuals from a common list.

"It's weird to hear this from a country that regularly derails negotiations and agreements on the exchange of prisoners or the deceased, but Russia has decided to make a bet now on this topic as well. How can you listen to this country with its peace formula if they don't want their own prisoners!" Kovalenko wrote.

The emphasis on some kind of selectivity in the return of prisoners is also interesting, which hints at a favorite element of Russian propaganda — corruption and selectivity. It sounds especially wild, but strategically correct from the enemy's point of view, amid the reality that in the third year of captivity Russia refuses to return the captured Azov, despite the fact that the Free Azov movement has reached the international level. Why are they not returning them? Narrative of the Russians: Because they agree to exchange those for whom someone "paid"!

In fact, by blocking all exchange initiatives and making up such bogus stories, Russia pursues the goal not only of external discrediting of Ukraine before the peace summit in Switzerland, but also of creating internal destabilization in Ukraine.

"I think in the coming days we will see how this narrative will resurface. Obviously, this will not harm Ukraine at the international level. Our partners have full information about how many requests there have been to the Russian side for exchanges and what proposals there have been, just as our partners know who has blocked, is blocking and will continue to block all initiatives. Since for Russia the prisoners are not prisoners, they are hostages in Russia's understanding," the expert summed up.