If the Russian fighter wanted for his role in the downing of Malaysian airliner MH17 is correct, Russia will refuse to hand over to Ukraine a former Donbas militant leader believed to have ordered and taken part in the horrific torture and killing in 2014 of 16-year-old Stepan Chubenko.

There is no official confirmation of this, but the information about Vadim Pogodin’s arrest on June 20 has also come from other Russian fighters.  It is likely that Russia is hoping to quietly release him, and relying on the difficulty Ukraine is in since Pogodin was detained in Russian-occupied Crimea.

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