MOSCOW. Jan 28 (Interfax) - Ukrainian sailors Andriy Artemenko, Andriy Eider, and Vasyl Soroka, who were wounded and detained in the Kerch Strait incident in November 2018, have been discharged from the hospital of the Matrosskaya Tishina detention center and transferred to the Lefortovo detention center, lawyer Nikolai Polozov, who leads the defense team for the detained Ukrainians, told Interfax on Monday.
"The investigator told me that the three wounded men were discharged from the medical facility and transferred to the Lefortovo detention center on Saturday," Polozov said.
The lawyers have not yet seen the sailors, so they have no up-to-date information on their health, he said.
"When the lawyers last saw their clients, they didn't look great, in the words of the lawyers. Therefore, we are planning to reach out to Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova so that she can get help independent doctors to see the wounded and assess their condition," Polozov said.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian parliament's human rights commissioner, Liudmyla Denysova, said that a Ukrainian consul will not get access to the three before January 31.
"The sailors will remain in the quarantine zone for a time, and the consul will be able to visit them no sooner than January 31, 2019," Denysova wrote on Facebook on Monday, citing information from the Ukrainian Embassy to Russia.
There is still no official confirmation of the information on the sailors' injuries, medical treatment and physical condition at the time of transfer from one jail to another, she said.
"What we know is that Vasyl Soroka still has problems with his arm, it has a swelling, he has difficulty bending his fingers. Andriy Artemenko has fragmentation wounds in his arm and eye (his eyes are constantly watery). Andriy Eider still has shrapnel in both legs, injuries to the knee and arm," Denysova said.
She appealed "to anyone who can influence on Russia's decision" to facilitate the injured sailors' transfer to a third, neutral, country.