Dozens of Kursk Region residents were captured by Ukrainian forces during a cross-border incursion last year

Ukraine is stalling the return of civilians captured in Russia's Kursk Region to use them as bargaining chips in a potential swap for fighters from the notorious neo-Nazi Azov unit, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has said.

Dozens of captured civilians remain in Kiev's custody following its incursion into Russian territory last August. Ukrainian forces captured several towns and villages before being pushed back. On April 26, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the full liberation of Kursk Region, saying Ukraine had suffered heavy losses.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the SVR cited intelligence suggesting that Kiev plans to delay the civilians' return "for as long as possible." People close to Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky, it added, see them as a "valuable asset" that could be exchanged for "something more substantial from Moscow than wounded and unfit-for-combat prisoners of war."

According to the agency, Kiev hopes to leverage the detainees in talks to secure the release of fighters from the Azov brigade - a nationalist unit designated a terrorist organization in Russia - who have been convicted of serious crimes.

Originally formed as a volunteer unit of radical nationalists, Azov rose to prominence following the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev, reportedly becoming a central part of an international white supremacist network. The Ukrainian government incorporated it into the National Guard the same year.

As of March, more than 140 Azov members had been convicted by Russian courts, according to Investigative Committee head Aleksandr Bastrykin.

The SVR said Kiev is "cynically" exploiting the fact that Russia has no similar "trump card" in the form of captured Ukrainian civilians and claims this increases its chances of "forcing the Kremlin to play by their rules and agree to exchange the Kursk civilians for Azov fighters."

In March, Ukraine released more than 30 civilians, mostly elderly, along with four children. Russia's human rights commissioner, Tatyana Moskalkova, said at the time that Moscow would continue pressing for the return of all the remaining detainees.

Last October, she reported receiving over a thousand inquiries from families searching for missing civilians.

The Russian Investigative Committee has reported incidents of looting, arson, and shootings of civilians by Ukrainian troops during the incursion.

(RT.com)