OREANDA-NEWS   In 2023, Russia and Ukraine held closed-door talks on prisoners in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Their details were revealed by the representative of the parliamentary coordination group on military operations, State Duma deputy Shamsail Saraliev in an interview with RBC.

According to him, cases of blackmail of relatives of Russian prisoners of war were discussed at the meeting. During it, the parliamentarian told representatives of Ukraine about incidents with calls to relatives of fighters demanding to set fire to an object, for example, a military enlistment office or a factory.

"They're sending a video of a gun being held to a fighter's head. And I raised the issue that something needs to be done about such cases," Saraliev said, stressing that the parties immediately agreed to respond to such reports. "And there are already dozens of such guys who managed to be saved thanks to this agreement."

The parliamentarian added that people participated in that meeting from Kiev "without any kind of fuss or threats, without any imitation of violent activity." Saraliev assessed them as "normal negotiators who are interested in taking away those people they want." In addition, the dialogue took place in Russian, without the participation of translators.