Herashchenko: Ukraine prepared to exchange 20 Russians for Ukrainians imprisoned in Russia
Ukraine is prepared to swap twenty Russians currently held in Ukrainian prisons in exchange for the release of Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia.
Iryna Herashchenko, First Deputy chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and Ukraine's representative to the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine, said that this issue will be raised on in Minsk on Wednesday, April 4.
"The Working Group [is meeting] on April 4 in Minsk ... the second issue that we will raise there is the release of hostages," Interfax-Ukraine quoted Herashchenko as saying. "Ukraine is doing everything to ensure that the next wave of hostage swapping is carried out as soon as possible. But we consider it essential that we can release not only those who remain in the occupied territory, but also the prisoners of the Kremlin. "
According to Herashchenko, "the Ukrainian side is ready to hand over twenty Russians who are being held in Ukrainian prisons for violating Ukrainian legislation and participating in the war, in order to release [Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg] Sentsov, [Crimean activist Oleksandr] Kolchenko, and other prisoners."
Herashchenko added that "the will of the Russian Federation is very important" in this issue.