Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman has won a diplomatic victory as he secured freedom for foreign fighters captured in Ukraine.
Russian forces released 10 foreign fighters which were captured from Ukraine, including British and American nationals.
It signals the value of the Crown Prince’s alliance with Russia to Western partners seeking to isolate Moscow over the war there.
With this development, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman now can move a step nearer international rehabilitation, analysts said.
With Prince’s mediation role, Russia on Wednesday released 10 foreigners it had captured in Ukraine, including five Britons and two Americans.
The move, apparently made possible by Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s nurtured ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, coincided with a prisoner exchange involving 215 Ukrainians and 55 Russians and pro-Moscow Ukrainians that Turkey helped broker.
The working relationship between Saudi Arabia and Russia appears ideal in the choice of intermediary, Kristian Ulrichsen, a political scientist at Rice University’s Baker Institute in the United States said.
“By sanctioning this mediation and delivering results, Saudi Crown Prince is able to present himself as capable of playing the role of regional statesman in a way that counters the narrative of the crown prince as an impulsive and disruptive actor,” Ulrichsen said.
