Moscow not interested in Russians missing in Donbas - Gerashchenko

First Deputy Chairwoman of the Verkhovna Rada Iryna Gerashchenko, who represents Ukraine in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), wrote this on her Facebook page on April 4 following a TCG meeting.

"I tried to touch on the issue of missing people, create a mechanism involving the ICRC and Russia to intensify the search for people. Unfortunately, the other side - the Russian Federation and its satellites - take a destructive stand on this issue and do not agree to the participation of Russian experts and representatives in such a mechanism. They say: 'We are not there, Russia has nothing to do with that, this is an internal conflict,' etc. It's a pity that the Russian side so far demonstrates complete reluctance to deal with its missing citizens, so we work further to advance in this issue," Gerashchenko wrote. 

She said that the participants in the meeting also discussed torture and sexual crimes in captivity.

"We categorically condemn all illegal methods of influencing the detainees and insist on the access of the ICRC to prisons in occupied territories," Gerashchenko said.

The Ukrainian side also raised the issue of speedy reconstruction of a bridge in Stanytsia Luhanska with the support of the ICRC. "In this case, the object must meet all the characteristics agreed with the Ukrainian competent services and agencies," she said.

Gerashchenko said that the next meeting in Minsk would be held in two weeks. "I would like to move forward in the issue of the release of hostages," she said.

op