KYIV. May 22 (Interfax) - Ukraine is doing all it can to have 'hostages and political prisoners' held in Russia and in the areas in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions not controlled by Kyiv freed as soon as possible, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said.
"We are doing all we can to place [...] pressure on the Russian president so that he finally gives instructions and the process that we started at the end of last year, when we managed to have 74 hostages freed; this should be continued as soon as possible, so that Ukrainian heroes return home as soon as possible," Poroshenko said at a joint press conference with Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Poroshenko said the liberation of Ukrainian citizens held in Russia and in Donbas territories not controlled by Kyiv is addressed at all of his negotiations with foreign partners.
"There have been no international negotiations, be it with our European partners or our American partners, at which we haven't brought up the soonest possible liberation of both Ukrainian hostages who are being held illegally in occupied territory and political prisoners whom Russia is holding in prisons of the occupied Crimea and in Russian territory," he said.
Poroshenko said the matter was brought up at his negotiations with Kaljulaid.
"Ms. President and I discussed this and coordinated our steps, as the liberation of hostages is a component of the Minsk Agreements, under which Russia has undertaken the direct obligation to free hostages. The matter concerns [Roman] Sushchenko, [Oleh] Sentsov, [Oleksandr] Kolchenko, and a lot of others. The matter concerns Crimean Tatars and Ukrainian servicemen. We don't forget anyone," he said.
The exchange of captives has lately been discussed without any significant success at the Trilateral Contacts Group meetings in Minsk. The self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR) have invited Kyiv to exchange "all identified persons held in detention facilities in Ukrainian territory for all identified persons convicted in the territories of the republics." Kyiv has insisted on liberation by Russia of "Ukrainian political prisoners and hostages" and said it is willing to hand over "Russian citizens convicted for crimes against the Ukrainian state" to Russia.