Ukraine’s representative to the subgroup on humanitarian issues of the Trilateral Contact Group on settlement of the situation in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Ukrainian Presidential Envoy for Donbas conflict settlement Iryna Gerashchenko stated Russia’s representatives to the group and subgroup on humanitarian issues refused from exchange of Russians convicted in Ukraine for Ukrainians illegally kept in Russia, as she wrote on Facebook.
“Russia has refused to discuss the exchange of Russians for Kremlin’s political prisoners, the Ukrainians. Both within the humanitarian subgroup and Trilateral Contact Group,” she wrote.
Gerashchenko noted that the Ukrainian side offered to exchange of three Ukrainian servicemen kept in Donbas for three Russians convicted in Ukraine.
“On a terrible anniversary of Russia’s violation of the Minsk Agreements – attack in Debaltsevo, we have proposed to exchange three Russians convicted for crimes in Donbas for the heroes S. Glondar, B. Pantyushenko, A. Korynkov, who have been illegally kept in Donetsk for four years. No reaction received,” she stated.
Russian representatives declined this offer stating that they were waiting for the change of power in Ukraine during the coming elections in 2019.
