Head of President’s Office Yermak at TCG meeting negotiates prisoner exchange

12.03.2020 09:35

Ukrinform

The meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on peaceful settlement of the situation in Donbas was held in Minsk, which was attended by Head of the Ukrainian President’s Office Andriy Yermak and Deputy Head of the Russian President’s Administration Dmitry Kozak, the press service of the Ukrainian President’s Office reported.

The parties at the meeting agreed to submit to the TCG the agreed lists of prisoners to be exchanged.

“[The parties agreed] to submit to the TCG the agreed lists of persons subject to the mutual release procedure, including the results of the verification carried out by the International Committee of the Red Cross, with the unconditional and unimpeded access of ICRC representatives to designated persons in the territories of Ukraine and ORDLO,” reads the statement.

Also, the parties also discussed the disengagement of forces and hardware, simultaneous opening of the checkpoints in Zolote and Schastia, as well as the establishment of the Advisory Council.

The pastis agreed to sign the decision of the TCG on the establishment of the Advisory Council as part of the TCG political subgroup after consultations with representatives of the OSCE, the French Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany on the implementation of the agreements reached during the Normandy format summit.

As Ukrinform reported, the TCG at is previous meeting on February 26 discussed the issues of additional areas for the disengagement of forces and hardware, a new exchange of detained persons, ensuring effective search for missing persons and the possibility of opening new checkpoints at the contact line.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said he hoped that the exchange of prisoners could be held in March.