Premature to give prisoner swap details: Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that it was too early to discuss in detail a possible prisoner exchange with Ukraine, amid hopes for the release of film director Oleg Sentsov and others during the World Cup. But he indicated that backdoor negotiations were under way, raising hopes for the release of dozens of prisoners including Mr. Sentsov, who is on a high-profile hunger strike at a high-security prison.
“It’s so far premature to say how this issue will be solved,” Mr. Putin told reporters at a summit in the Chinese city of Qingdao, adding he would not want to comment for now “so as not to violate anything here and not to disrupt anything”.
Mr. Putin and Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko discussed a possible exchange of prisoners in a rare phone call on Saturday and agreed that officials from the two countries would visit their prisoners “in the near future”. Mr. Putin said Mr. Poroshenko initiated the discussion.
Ukraine’s rights ombudsman Lyudmyla Denysova said on Friday that Kiev and Moscow were in the process of agreeing on lists of prisoners. She would inform Mr. Poroshenko of the date she would travel to Russia on Monday, her office said.
AFP
Anastasiya
The Kootneeti Team – Kremlin Brief
