Will Sentsov be released?
The ombudsmen of Russia and Ukraine are preparing an appeal to the presidents of their countries with a proposal to pardon a number of citizens, Tatyana Moskalkova and Lyudmila Denisova reported at a briefing.
“We will appeal to the leaders of our countries to consider some cases - some of our citizens and citizens of your country about pardon and some other methods so that they are released,” said the Ukrainian Commissioner for Human Rights.
At the same time, another signal came from Kyiv about the possibility of a large exchange of prisoners.
Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine for Foreign Policy Affairs Vadim Prystaiko said that during a meeting of advisers to the presidents of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France in the Normandy format, preliminary agreements were reached on the exchange of prisoners.
“We agreed to exchange a certain number of our prisoners within a month. President Zelensky spoke about “10 to 10”, “15 to 15”. In principle, we are not limited to a certain number of people; our task now is to exchange and get our people back and unblock the “all for all” process, which has been blocked until now,” said the Ukrainian official.
According to him, Russia’s release of Ukrainian sailors arrested after a provocation in the Kerch Strait became the main subject of discussion during a recent telephone conversation between Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“The main topic of this conversation was the release of our sailors and other prisoners. We are ready to talk on this topic every day if necessary to make progress.
The presidents did not agree on a specific date for the next meetings, this is largely due to judicial and extrajudicial decisions, negotiations of our ombudsmen, our negotiating team led by Lutkovskaya, and all other efforts through the channels and paths that we are using to take our people back." ,” explained Prystaiko.
At the same time, the representative of the Ukrainian President noted that direct negotiations with the President of the Russian Federation “are not taboo” for them if this facilitates the release of prisoners.
Former speaker of the DPR Foreign Ministry Konstantin Dolgov believes that some decisions to pardon Ukrainian convicts will be very painfully perceived in Russia. “Pardon the terrorist Sentsov, for example? Original idea. The Crimeans, whom he wanted to undermine, will certainly appreciate such a gesture,” Dolgov comments on his blog.
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