Poroshenko, Tusk congratulate political prisoner Sentsov on his birthday

As an Ukrinform correspondent reports, this was announced at the press conference upon the 19th Ukraine-EU summit in Kyiv on Thursday.

"I want to congratulate you on your birthday, Oleg. We remember you and wish you a speedy return home," Poroshenko said.

He noted that during the Ukraine-EU summit much attention was paid to the issues of the occupied Donbas and the annexed Crimean peninsula, which Russia is turning into a military base.

According to the President, it is very symbolic that filmmaker Sentsov is still illegally staying in the Russian prison emphasizing our common responsibility for the fate of all the imprisoned Ukrainian citizens who are held by Russia as hostages in Donbas, Crimea and directly in the Russian Federation.

In turn, President of the European Council Donald Tusk recalled that the EU had decided to extend economic sanctions against Russia.

"In this context, I also want to congratulate famous Ukrainian film director and writer Oleg Sentsov. I call for the immediate release of all illegally imprisoned Ukrainian citizens in Russia and Crimea," Tusk said.

As reported, the Russian court sentenced Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov on trumped-up charges of plotting terrorist acts to 20 years in a penal colony. Sentsov is now serving sentence in Yakutsk. Russia rejected Ukraine’s appeal for extradition of the filmmaker.

ol