Participants of the Contact Group for the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis will gather in Minsk to prepare the prisoner exchange process, Russia’s chief negotiator at the Minsk peace talks Boris Gryzlov said, adding that a particular date and procedure will be discussed.
“Hopefully, we will be able to organize prisoner exchange before the [New Year and Christmas] holidays,” he said.
DRP and LRP republics have said they are ready for the exchange. Human rights ombudswoman of Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Darya Morozova said she expects the issue to be the key focus of the meeting. “We expect the Ukrainian side to have developed mechanisms of procedural purification and preparation of persons for exchange, and expect an efficient dialogue,” she said.
The sides plan to release 306 supporters of DPR and LPR and 74 Ukrainian security chiefs. At the last meeting of the Contact Group the sides announced readiness to do it, though they have failed to implement it as Kiev asked for some time for procedural purification of exchanged persons.
Three weeks ago, Viktor Medvedchuk, the leader of the Ukrainian Choice movement and Kiev’s representative to the Contact Group’s humanitarian subgroup, asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to facilitate the prisoner exchange between the parties to the Donbass conflict. According to Medvedchuk, Ukraine is ready to release 306 prisoners before the holiday season, and expects Donetsk and Lugansk to release 74 people in return. There has been no such exchanges for 14 months already.
Meanwhile, the issue is not about full release of all detained persons as stipulated by the Minsk Accords. According to Medvedchuk, after the first round of exchange “there will be 80 people left in Ukraine and 20 those who Ukraine is looking for in Lugansk and Donetsk.” “I think this is going to be the second round of exchange,” which will be held next year, he added.