A "spiritual bond" is, as I understand it, a moral principle shared by everyone in the country.
It seems to me that rescuing our citizens who end up in such a situation would be an excellent candidate for just such a spiritual bond.
Or at the very least, not betraying such citizens and treating them with respect. Right now, when no one from the embassy has come to see them the entire time, and their relatives are being forced to lie publicly about them, it looks exactly like betrayal.
How can this be acceptable?
Obviously, these people were carrying out an unlawful order. Obviously, the operation itself was entirely illegal. But intelligence agents and spies also engage in illegal activity. They still get exchanged.
Remember the campaign they mounted for the "journalists" from LifeNews, who are complete scum, traitors, thieves, and in general bring society nothing but harm? Even so, they were, unfortunately, citizens of the Russian Federation, and they had to be exchanged.
And what about now? Where is Dima Bilan (a Russian pop singer)? Where are singer Valeriya (a Russian pop singer) and the TV reports? Where are the badges on the hosts of Vesti Nedeli?
The current prisoners were carrying out the orders of the military command with weapons in their hands. That is unquestionably the responsibility of the whole country, unlike prostitutes with cameras, for whom their boss is responsible.
They must be exchanged for Savchenko immediately, and of course this disgrace involving humiliated relatives must be brought to an end.