EU concerned that Red Cross denied access to detainees in Donbas

The EU Delegation said this in a statement at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna on Thursday, January 30, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“The mutual release of detainees, which took place on December 29, 2019, was a long-awaited step in the right direction. However, we are concerned that, despite preliminary agreements, the International Committee of the Red Cross has still been denied full and unconditional access to detainees in non-government-controlled territories," the statement says.

The European Union urged to provide the ICRC with full, safe and unconditional access to prisoners throughout Ukraine.

As Ukrinform reported, on January 26, Coordinator of the Humanitarian Working Group at the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), OSCE Ambassador Toni Frisch said that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had been denied full access to detainees in ORDLO, "despite the fact that such a decision has already been made, and that this issue has been repeatedly raised in the Normandy Four format and in the format of two participating countries of the Normandy Four at the level of ministries and a high level."

About 300 Ukrainians remain in custody in the territory of Donbas controlled by Russian militants, in Crimea and Russian prisons.

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