Vice Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Iryna Herashchenko, said that Russia is ready to exchange convicts in Ukraine for Ukrainian political prisoners kept in Russian prisons. The exchange has been offered in the format “23 by 23”.
“These are the citizens of the Russian Federation who were convicted for preparing terrorist acts in Odessa, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Kherson, Ternopil, or for taking part in military operations in Donbass, or those on trial,” Herashchenko explained.
Among the Russian prisoners are Victor Ageyev, Alexander Baranov, Maxim Odintsov, Sergei Egorov, Olga Kovalis, Maxim Slivka, Larisa Chubarova, Evgeni Mefedov and others.
The Vice Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada also said that the Ukrainian side is ready to exchange them for Oleg Sentsov, Alexander Kolchenko, Roman Sushchenko, Pavel Grib, Vladimir Balukh, Yevgeny Panov and those held in the occupied Donbass.
Tatyana Moskalkova, the human rights ombudsman in Russia, noted that the exchange for those serving punishment in the territory of another country is not feasible because the prisoners have both Russian citizenship and Ukrainian citizenship. Therefore, before the exchange, both sides have to determine the status of prisoners and sign a special agreement.
