Putin promised that the exchange of prisoners with Ukraine will be large and large-scale

Negotiations between Ukraine and Russia on the exchange of prisoners came to the finish line. This was during a plenary meeting at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. with the BBC.

Фото: Depositphotos

“Regarding the exchange: I think it will be quite large, large-scale, and this would already be a good step forward, towards normalization,” Putin said.

The head of the Kremlin noted that it was “quite difficult for Russia to make decisions regarding specific people” who are in prison. He did not name specific names.

Despite this, he said, negotiations are ongoing, including with the official Kyiv authorities, and their results will become known “in the near future.”

Putin’s godfather, the leader of the Ukrainian Opposition Platform party Viktor Medvedchuk, also came to the forum in Vladivostok. He said that negotiations on the exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine are nearing completion.

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“I think that Mr. Medvedchuk will now torment me on this issue. I know that he is especially worried about several defendants who are in prison in the Russian Federation, and it was quite difficult for us to make decisions regarding these specific people,” Putin said.

Later, Putin met with Medvedchuk. “Of course, you are successfully converting our good relations into concrete humanitarian actions, into concrete deeds, I think that people will remember this. This is a holy cause, as they say, everything is clear,” Putin said.

"Thanks a lot. In Ukraine, people are waiting for you and President Zelensky to put an end to this issue,” Medvedchuk replied.

“We are working on this,” Putin said.

Prisoner exchange

On the night of August 30, reports began to appear in a number of Russian and Ukrainian media that the exchange of prisoners between Moscow and Kiev had taken place. They referred to the post of the employee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Anna Islamova on Facebook, the repost of which was made by the new Prosecutor General of Ukraine Ruslan Ryaboshapka.

However, in Kiev this information was not confirmed, and in Moscow they did not comment on the situation at all.

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Leaders of the Ukrainian Opposition Platform party Viktor Medvedchuk and Vadim Rabinovich also flew to Moscow. They reported that they visited Ukrainians Nikolai Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh, convicted in Russia, in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center.

The media began reporting on the intensification of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine on the exchange of prisoners earlier in August. On August 23, it became known that the Commissioner for Human Rights under the President of Russia, Tatyana Moskalkova, had arrived in Kyiv. Sources reported that the Ukrainian ombudsman Lyudmila Denisova “is already in Russia.”

The exchange is planned to be carried out according to the formula “33 for 33” - 33 Russians for 33 Ukrainians, including all 24 sailors detained in November 2018 of the year in the area of ​​the Kerch Strait.

Initially, it was reported that the exchange would not affect Oleg Sentsov, who was sentenced in Russia to 2015 years in prison in the 20 year on charges of terrorism. However, on August 29, Russian media, citing sources, reported that Sentsov had been transferred from the colony of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug to Moscow.

The day before, the Kiev Court of Appeal softened the preventive measure to the head of RIA Novosti-Ukraine Kirill Vyshinsky, accused of treason. He was released from the pre-trial detention center under a personal obligation.

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The exchange agreement was allegedly reached after the first a telephone conversation between the presidents of Russia and Ukrainewhich took place on July 11.

Earlier in the press, the possibility was discussed before September 3 of September to return Ukrainians captured and held there, writes "Voice of America".

Now the Russian media are calling a new date for preparations for the exchange of detainees between Ukraine and Russia – September 7. Both sources named September 7 as the likely date for the exchange of detainees. One of them noted that so far only “framework agreements” have been reached; the final date and terms of the exchange will be agreed upon in the middle of the week.

Read also on ForumDaily:

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