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Venezuela frees seven jailed Americans in swap for two Maduro relatives

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - Venezuela on Saturday freed seven Americans, including five oil executives, in exchange for two relatives of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro jailed in the United States on drug convictions, U.S. officials said.

The swap included executives of Citgo Petroleum held for years, in addition to U.S. Marine veteran Matthew Heath and another U.S. citizen named

KYIV, (Reuters) - Ukrainian troops said on Saturday they had taken the key bastion of Lyman in occupied eastern Ukraine, a stinging defeat that prompted a close ally of President Vladimir Putin to call for the possible use of low-grade nuclear weapons.

The capture came just a day after Putin proclaimed the annexation of four Ukrainian regions including Donetsk, where Lyman is located - and placed them under Russia’s nuclear umbrella, at a ceremony that was condemned by Kyiv and the West as an illegitimate farce.

The Ukrainian soldiers made the claim in a video that was recorded outside the town council building in the centre of Lyman and posted on social media by Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office.

“Dear Ukrainians - today the armed forces of Ukraine ... liberated Osman Khan. They were exchanged for two of Maduro’s wife’s nephews, who were arrested in 2015.

President Joe Biden said in a statement that the “wrongfully detained” Americans would soon be reunited with their relatives.

“Today, we celebrate that seven families will be whole once more. To all the families who are still suffering and separated from their loved ones who and took control of the settlement of Lyman, Donetsk region,” one of the soldiers says. At the end of the video, a group of Ukrainian soldiers throw Russian flags down from the building’s roof and raise a Ukrainian flag in their place.

Hours earlier Russia’s defence ministry had announced it was pulling troops out of the area “in connection with the creation of a threat of encirclement”.

Russia had used Lyman as a logistics and transport hub for its operations in the north of the Donetsk region. Its capture is Ukraine’s biggest battlefield gain since a lightning counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region last month.

Zelenskiy promised more quick successes in the Donbas, which covers the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that are largely under Russian control. are wrongfully detained – know that we remain dedicated to securing their release,” Biden said.

The prisoner transfer, which one U.S. official said took place at an airport in an unspecified third country, followed months of secretive talks with Maduro’s socialist government, which is under strict U.S. sanctions, including on the OPEC nation’s energy sector.

It came at a time when Washington is under growing pressure to do more to secure freedom for dozens of Americans held abroad. Much of the Biden administration’s focus has been on Russia’s detention of WNBA star Brittney Griner and another American, Paul Whelan.

Maduro’s government said in a statement that as a result of talks that started in March two young Venezuelans “unjustly” held in the United States were freed, as well as a group of U.S. citizens who were subject to Venezuelan court proceedings and were released for “humanitarian reasons.”

The freed Americans were all in stable health and “overjoyed to be heading home,” while the two Venezuelans were en route back to the South American country, a senior Biden administration official told reporters in a telephone briefing.

Biden approved the exchange weeks ago, making a “tough decision, a painful decision” that the release of the two Venezuelans was essential to securing the Americans’ freedom.

Ukraine troops say they take key town, Putin ally mulls possible nuclear response

U.S. officials have previously said in private that Maduro wanted to use the detainees as bargaining chips.

The swap, which included Biden granting clemency to the two Venezuelans who U.S. authorities had dubbed the “narco nephews,” has not altered Washington’s policy toward Venezuela, a senior administration official said.

The Biden administration has only slightly eased Trump-era sanctions on Venezuela, saying it will consider more significant steps if Maduro returns to negotiations with the Venezuelan opposition and there is progress toward free elections.

An increased flow of Venezuelan oil to world markets could help replace some of the Russian supplies hit by international sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, experts say. The five employees of Houston-based Citgo, who had been detained in Venezuela in 2017, were Tomeu Vadell, Jose Luis Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano, Jorge Toledo and Jose Pereira.

Also released was Heath, a former Marine hospitalized following what his family said was a suicide attempt in June. He had been held since 2020 on terrorism charges, which he denied.

Khan was identified as a Florida man who had been arrested in January.

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2022-10-02T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-10-02T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://epaper.stabroeknews.com/article/281547999775856

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