Klimkin: There has been no progress in freeing Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia and Crimea
At a joint briefing with the Foreign Ministers of France and Germany in Kiev on Tuesday, February 23rd, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin spoke of the lack of progress in the liberation of Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia and Crimea.
"We are pleased that a few days ago we managed to exchange hostages and that our men have already been in Kiev for the past few days - this is very good news. However, we haven’t seen any positive changes and don't have any progress with freeing political prisoners in Russia and Crimea," Klimkin said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, on February 11th, said that they "closely monitor all cases of persecution on political and ethnic grounds including intimidation, torture and kidnapping which are carried out by Russian authorities, or with their involvement, on the occupied peninsula."
According to the human rights defenders, as of December last year, Russia holds 21 Ukrainian citizens for political reasons. Thirteen of these prisoners are in Russia and eight are in Crimea.