Moscow completely blocks release of hostages – Gerashchenko

Iryna Gerashchenko, the first deputy chairwoman of the Verkhovna Rada and Ukraine's representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the TCG, wrote this on Facebook following a meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group and its working subgroups in Minsk today.

“Unfortunately, the destructive position of Moscow, which frankly announced the holding of “elections” in ORDLO and is trying to fully intervene in the election campaign in Ukraine, has completely blocked the issue of the release of hostages. The whole world is fighting for Sentsov, and Moscow demonstrates contempt and incompetence,” Gerashchenko emphasized.

She noted that the Ukrainian side in Minsk once again appealed to the representatives of the Russian Federation to immediately provide a formal response to the proposal to exchange 23 Russian criminals for political prisoners of the Kremlin.

In addition, she said that Ukraine was ready to pardon “several dozens” of separatists in exchange for 20 Ukrainians - civil and military, who had been held in the occupied Donbas illegally for years.

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