UKRAINE WAR: 13 Nigerians released from detention in Poland

THIRTEEN (13) out of 19 Nigerians that were detained in various camps in Poland have been released.

Their release followed the intervention of the Nigeria Ambassador to Poland, Major General Christian Ugwu (rtd).

A statement yesterday by Abdur-Rahman Balogun, Head of Media, Public Relations and Protocols Unit Nigerians in Diaspora Commission quoted Ugwu as saying that among the remaining six persons in detention camps, one claimed to be a Cameroonian.

The Nigerian Ambassador to Poland assured Nigerians that the Mission will continue to do its best to ensure that the interest of Nigerians are well taken care of, despite the fact that they had been adequately briefed on the likely consequences of remaining as undocumented immigrants in Poland.

It would be recalled that President Muhammad Buhari had in March immediately approved the evacuation of Nigerians mostly students trapped in the Russian- Ukrainian crisis back home.

The directive was swiftly carried out by the inter-ministerial agencies coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with over 1600 Nigerians brought back home.

However, some of the Nigerians chose to remain behind and were clamped into detention centres in Poland.

A Russian oligarch has lambasted the country’s “massacre” in Ukraine and called for an end to the “crazy war”.

Oleg Tinkov wrote in a profanity-littered Instagram post that he did not see “any beneficiary” of the conflict.

Mr Tinkov is one of Russia’s most well-known entrepreneurs and founded the global online bank Tinkoff Bank and owned the cycling team Tinkoff-Saxo.

He is also one of the most high profile Russians to publicly condemn President Vladimir Putin’s actions.

Two of the country’s most prominent oligarchs Mikhail Fridman and Oleg Deripaska have made separate calls for peace, but have stopped short of direct criticism.