The Council of Europe welcomed the agreement between the participants of the Tripartite Contact Group in Minsk on the exchange of prisoners between Kyiv and the occupied territories of Donbas in the "all-for-all" format. A corresponding statement was made by Council’s Spokesman Daniel Holtgen on his Twitter page.
"Good news from the OSCE on an agreement on a mutual release and exchange of conflict-related detainees by the end of the year: Press Statement of Special Representative Sajdik after meeting of Trilateral Contact Group in form of VTC on 23 December 2019," Holtgen wrote.
As we reported earlier, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko claims that Minsk talks group has agreed on one group of prisoners to be exchanged between Kyiv and the self-proclaimed republics of Donbas. The diplomat said so in an interview with Ukrinform news agency.
"Minsk talks group received seven tasks. We actually hoped for a little more progress in this regard. We agreed on one group of people that are definitely ready for the exchange. The question is, should we exchange these people now or try broadening the list and release everyone", Prystaiko said.
According to him, the Ukrainian side is eager to bring back as many people as possible before the New Year's eve. This is why the OSCE coordinator made the decision to hold a video conference and complete the work on the lists.
