Russia freezes prisoner exchange with Ukraine

Russia has frozen the exchange of prisoners with Ukraine since August of this year. However, negotiations on their resumption are ongoing.

According to RBC-Ukraine, a representative of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Petro Yatsenko, told reporters.

"Negotiations are ongoing, work is underway. But, indeed, since the summer, Russia has actually frozen the exchanges. They do not take place to the extent they used to," he said.

He noted that Ukraine is ready to exchange prisoners, but everything depends on the Russian side. At the same time, Ukraine is running out of places to hold prisoners of war, and the issue of expanding their number is currently being considered.

"We would be happy to exchange them even tomorrow for our defenders. We know that the conditions in which our defenders are held in Russia are much worse than the conditions we offer as a European country that adheres to the Third Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War," he said.

According to him, the Russian Federation is not interested in the fate of its prisoners, so it delays the exchange and creates various obstacles.

"In May of this year, we had several large exchanges, now the last one took place on August 7. We were able to return only 22 people. There are various reasons to postpone these exchanges, and in fact, this is a kind of hooking in order to slow down the process and to be able to conduct some propaganda campaigns. We believe that this is exactly what is being done," he emphasized.

Author - Serhii Kolomiets, 18/11/2023