Kremlin's stance does not allow unblocking prisoner exchange – Arestovych

To unblock the process of a prisoner exchange, Russia demands that Ukraine must recognize the terrorist formations “DPR” and “LPR” as a party to the conflict.

“The stumbling block is the Kremlin’s desire to pretend that they are not a party to the conflict and to do everything possible for Ukraine to recognize the so-called ‘republics’ as one of the parties to the conflict. That’s all. There is no other stumbling block,” Oleksiy Arestovych, a spokesman for the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group, said on the air of Dom TV channel, Ukrinform reports.

He noted that the lists for the exchange had been prepared: “They are well known to both sides. And the OSCE mediators know that. Charlotta Relander, Coordinator of the Humanitarian Working Group, is doing a lot to make the exchange happen and the entry-exit checkpoints work. But she stumbles upon the same stance of the Kremlin,” the representative of the Ukrainian delegation to the TCG added.

Arestovych stressed that the Ukrainian side was ready for an exchange.

“Ukraine is taking steps in the humanitarian area to normalize the situation, open the entry-exit checkpoints, and exchange prisoners. But Moscow’s position remains the same: you have a conflict there in Ukraine, so solve everything directly with the so-called ‘DPR’ and ‘LPR’,” Arestovych summed up.

As a reminder, the last prisoner exchange took place on April 16, 2020. Ukraine returned 19 citizens from occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, 14 people were transferred to the occupied territory, four more refused to go there.

In May, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova stated that 285 Ukrainians, including 44 service members, held captive in the occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, were on the exchange list.

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