Ukraine and Russian-backed rebels have swapped hundreds of prisoners in the war-torn east of the country, one of the largest such exchanges since the outbreak of an insurgency almost four years ago.
The swap of captives on a dusty road close to the town of Gorlivka, 40 kilometres northeast of the rebels' stronghold of Donetsk on Wednesday was an attempt to revive a tattered peace deal between the Kiev army and rebels from the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics.
The war in the former Soviet republic broke out in April 2014, after Russia annexed Crimea the previous month.
The conflict has already claimed more than 10,000 lives. A series of truce deals has helped lower the level of violence but did not end the bloodshed.
In the first exchange since September 2016, the Russian-backed eastern militia handed 73 prisoners over to Kiev. The Ukrainian side released 233 rebels and their supporters, officials from both sides said.
The figures were significantly lower than previously declared, as dozens of prisoners -- almost all from the Ukrainian territory -- have refused to move to the other side.
Two Ukrainians -- a man and a woman -- also opted to stay on the rebel side.
The prisoners massed at the exchange point with their belongings, shivering in zero temperatures, before boarding buses after their names had been called out.
Some of the detainees expressed relief after spending long months, and even years, in captivity.
"I was in captivity for two years," said historian Igor Kozlovskiy, 63, who was captured by Donetsk rebels on suspicion of storing weapons.
"Still a lot of prisoners remain (behind bars in Donetsk)," he said, minutes before he was handed over to the representatives of Ukraine.
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Hundreds of people turned out at Kiev airport late Wednesday to welcome home the released prisoners, waving national flags, bouquets of flowers and shouting "Glory to Ukraine! Glory to our heroes!"
"Hello sweetie. You see, daddy came back," one soldier said over the phone to a child as his weeping wife hugged him tightly, after 21 months held captive by separatists.
The swap on the eve of the New Year and Orthodox Christmas holidays was agreed following negotiations involving Russian president Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's leader Petro Poroshenko.
In his comment immediately after the exchange was completed, Poroshenko hailed the persistence of the Ukrainian soldiers.
"I have just thanked our lads who are coming back from captivity. Thanks for your stamina, guys," he said on Facebook.
The swap is in line with the so-called Minsk agreements brokered by Germany and France in 2015.
German foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel greeted the long-awaited exchange as "an important step in the implementation of the Minsk agreements", urging the sides to conduct further steps to fulfill the peace deal.
The last prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russian-backed rebels took place in September 2016 when two pro-Kiev detainees were swapped for four separatist fighters at a checkpoint outside the rebel-held city of Lugansk.
Unusually, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill helped mediate the talks on Wednesday's prisoner exchange, and three Russian priests were present.
The head of the separatist self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, thanked the patriarch for his involvement.
"People who have spent more than three years in captivity will be able to return home thanks to the church and the authorities," he said.
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian army reported the death of one soldier in the renewed fighting, the first combat casualty after the latest Christmas ceasefire came into force Saturday.
Ukraine and its Western allies accuse Russia of funnelling troops and arms across the border.
Moscow has denied the claims despite overwhelming evidence that it has been involved in the fighting and its explicit political support for the rebels.
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On Instagram: @WithHopeUAE
Although social media can be harmful to our mental health, paradoxically, one of the antidotes comes with the many social-media accounts devoted to normalising mental-health struggles. With Hope UAE is one of them.
The group, which has about 3,600 followers, was started three years ago by five Emirati women to address the stigma surrounding the subject. Via Instagram, the group recently began featuring personal accounts by Emiratis. The posts are written under the hashtag #mymindmatters, along with a black-and-white photo of the subject holding the group’s signature red balloon.
“Depression is ugly,” says one of the users, Amani. “It paints everything around me and everything in me.”
Saaed, meanwhile, faces the daunting task of caring for four family members with psychological disorders. “I’ve had no support and no resources here to help me,” he says. “It has been, and still is, a one-man battle against the demons of fractured minds.”
In addition to With Hope UAE’s frank social-media presence, the group holds talks and workshops in Dubai. “Change takes time,” Reem Al Ali, vice chairman and a founding member of With Hope UAE, told The National earlier this year. “It won’t happen overnight, and it will take persistent and passionate people to bring about this change.”
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylturbo
Transmission: seven-speed DSG automatic
Power: 242bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Price: Dh136,814
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
