Foreign Minister of Ukraine Announced a Large-Scale Exchange of Prisoners

The next exchange of prisoners between Ukraine and Russia should take place before new negotiations in the “Normandy format”. They are scheduled for April and will be held in Berlin. Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vadym Prystaiko on Monday, February 17, announced the next large-scale exchange of detained persons with Russia, which should take place before the next Normandy summit. He made such a statement on Ukrainian ICTV channel. “We plan to hold a large exchange of prisoners before the next meeting,” the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said. On February 14, the release of prisoners was discussed by the presidents of the Russian Federation and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky in a telephone conversation. According to the information from Kiev, Zelensky and Putin in particular “focused on the process of releasing the detained Ukrainian citizens who are in the temporarily occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea, as well as in the Russian Federation.” New Normandy Four Summit The Normandy format meeting on the Donbas conflict settlement in Berlin is scheduled for April. However, in early February, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Andrey Rudenko said that the meeting could be postponed due to “insufficient activity of Kiev.” Only the exchange of prisoners took place from the list, the rest of agreements has not been fulfilled yet, he noted. On December 9, 2019, at the Normandy Summit in Paris, Putin and Zelensky agreed to exchange held persons. In addition, an agreement was reached to continue the withdrawal of troops of the Ukrainian army and the “DPR” and “LPR” divisions. On December 29, an exchange of prisoners took place. 76 people returned to Kiev; self-proclaimed “republics” of Donbas reported the return of 124 people.