Poroshenko and Putin discuss prisoner situation over phone
On Thursday June 21, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko asked Russian President Vladimir Putin over the phone to ensure that Ukrainian Ombudsperson Lyudmyla Denisova is given access to Oleg Sentsov and other Ukrainian prisoners, Poroshenko’s press service reported.
“The head of the Ukrainian state urged [Putin] to release the Ukrainian prisoners held in Russian prisons and in its occupied territories. He also pointed out the importance of giving Human Rights Commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova access to Oleg Sentsov and other Ukrainian prisoners,” the report states.
The presidents also discussed security concerns relating to the Minsk agreements, and the resumption of work in the Normandy Format, with an aim to agree on a plan for the deployment of a UN peacekeeping mission in the Donbas.
Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the phone call between the two presidents had taken place.
After the call, Putin convened a Security Council session, where he informed those present that he had spoken to Poroshenko. The meeting participants then exchanged opinions about the current state of Russian-Ukrainian relations, and discussed how to resolve the situation in south-eastern Ukraine.
The following Russian politicians took part in the Security Council session: Federation Council Chairman Valentina Matviyenko, Head of Presidential Administration Anton Vayno, Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu, FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov, Foreign Intelligence Chief Sergey Naryshkin, and Sergey Ivanov, the President’s Representative for Environmental Activity, Ecology and Sport.