Kyiv willing to pardon two Russians to begin prisoner exchange
During negotiations with Russian representatives in Minsk, Ukraine offered to pardon two Russian citizens and hand them over to the Russian consul in exchange for the simultaneous transfer to Ukraine of Ukrainian soldiers illegally detained in the annexed Donbas territories, as reported by Iryna Herashchenko, Ukraine’s representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) and First Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada.
“The Ukrainian side is looking for all possible ways to unblock the process of releasing hostages from Russia and the annexed territories. It has made another specific proposal to the Russians: the Ukrainian side is willing, as an exception, to pardon two Russian citizens who are having health problems, to transfer them to the Russian consul in the presence of OSCE and ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross), with the simultaneous transfer to Ukraine of the Ukrainian soldiers, who have been held illegally for more than three years in the Donbas,” Herashchenko wrote on Facebook after the TCG session in Minsk on Wednesday.
Darka Olifer, press secretary of Ukraine’s representative to the TCG Leonid Kuchma, reported that Ukraine’s prisoner exchange initiative was blocked.
“The Ukrainian side has made a number of initiatives for the release of the hostages in the occupied Donbas regions and in Russian prisons, but they have all been blocked by the representatives of Russia and the annexed Donbas regions. Unfortunately, the meeting of the Ukrainian and Russian ombudsmen, which could have started the process of releasing detained persons, also did not take place. This was spoken about in the humanitarian subgroup. There they also discussed in detail OSCE Coordinator Toni Frisch’s visit of Ukrainian hostages in the occupied Donbas territories. We insist that Toni Frisch received full access to everyone who had been arrested in the part of the Donbas not controlled by Ukraine. For its part, the Ukrainian side is willing to create all the conditions for Toni Frisch to visit the institutions of the Ukrainian penitentiary system where citizens accused of severe crimes against Ukraine are being held,” Olifer said.
The last major prisoner exchange in the Donbas took place at the end of 2017. At the time, Ukraine handed over 233 people and received 73. It was assumed that the prisoner exchange would continue, but negotiations reached an impasse.