Kyiv ready to pardon two Russians in exchange for Ukrainian servicemen held in Donbas
The Ukrainian side in Minsk has told Russian representatives that it is ready to pardon two Russian citizens and hand them over to the Russian consul with the simultaneous transfer to Ukraine of Ukrainian servicemen illegally held in the occupied territories of Donbas, Ukraine's representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) and First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Iryna Gerashchenko has said.
"The Ukrainian side is looking for all possible ways to unblock the process of releasing hostages from the Russian Federation and from occupied territories. I made another concrete offer to the Russians. The Ukrainian side is ready, as an exception, to pardon two citizens of the Russian Federation having health problems and hand them over to the Russian consul in the presence of OSCE and ICRC representatives with the simultaneous transfer to Ukraine of Ukrainian servicemen who have been illegally held in Donbas for more than three years," Gerashchenko wrote on her Facebook page after a TCG meeting in Minsk on Wednesday.
She said the Ukrainian side is deeply concerned about the absence of a response from Moscow to Kyiv's proposal to transfer to Russia the Russians who committed crimes in exchange for Ukrainians held in Russian prisons.
"We continue to insist on the simultaneous transfer of citizens of the Russian Federation in exchange for Ukrainians, political prisoners of the Kremlin. At the same time, in order to demonstrate once again our readiness for compromise and constructive position in this matter, looking for new ways and ideas for unblocking the process of releasing Ukrainians illegally held in Russian prisons and in occupied territories, as an exception, we are ready to hand over two convicted Russians to the Russian consuls in exchange for our servicemen who have been held for many years in the Russian-occupied territories of the Donbas," she wrote.
Gerashchenko noted that Kyiv considers equally important the release of political prisoners of the Kremlin in Russia and hostages held in the Russian-occupied territories of the Donbas.
"The decision on the release of political prisoners and hostages is taken solely by the Kremlin. Today it is the Russian Federation and its puppets that are blocking the release of hostages and all initiatives and attempts to unblock this issue," she said.
