When the prisoners traded by Russia, the United States, Germany, and other countries walked toward home and freedom on Thursday, they did so on increasingly familiar ground for prisoner swaps in Turkey, a country that has molded itself into an important go-between for Moscow and the West since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Still, the fact that the complex, multicountry exchange occurred on Turkish soil allowed the country to cast itself as a key player on the world stage. It also allowed Turkey to try to put a positive spin on its sometimes tense relations with its NATO allies, many of which have been frustrated that the country declined to join Western sanctions on Russia and expanded economic ties with Moscow even as the West tried to isolate it.
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