Ukraine ready to pardon over 60 criminals in exchange for release of hostages from occupied Donbas

22.11.2018 14:09

Ukrinform

Ukraine is ready to pick up on November 27 all those convicted for criminal offenses before the beginning of the war in Donbas and who are now imprisoned in occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and want to serve their terms in government-controlled areas.

Ukraine's representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group, First Deputy Chairwoman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Gerashchenko, wrote this on her Facebook page on Thursday.

According to her, Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner Liudmyla Denisova and representatives of her office are ready to take these convicts on November 27 at a checkpoint that is to be chosen at a meeting of the humanitarian subgroup on November 22.

As for the hostages, Gerashchenko said, Ukrainian representatives remind Russians at a meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group and at a meeting of the humanitarian subgroup that they are waiting for answers to the proposal to exchange Russian mercenaries convicted in Ukraine for political prisoners of the Kremlin.

"We have been waiting for this answer for nine months, and we are ready to pardon more than 60 criminals in exchange for the release of hostages from Donbas. We are ready to hold the next stage of the release immediately and pardon all those who fall within the scope of the Minsk agreements, for the sake of the release of our guys," Gerashchenko said.