Donetsk, Mar 31 – DAN. Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky is deliberately protracting the implementation of a plan for the legal clearance of persons released from Ukrainian captivity during the 2019-2020 POW exchanges, said the DPR representative at the Minsk talks Minister of Foreign Affairs Natalia Nikonorova speaking about today's videoconference.
“At every session, we ask the Ukrainian side the same questions, which Kiev does not bother to answer. We systematically ask, first, when is the legal clearance of 50 persons, released in the exchanges but still under investigations, going to be finalized. We know that for a month now, papers on the implementation of the "clearance" have been on Zelensky's table. That is, only one signature separates us from progress on this issue," Nikonorova said.
At the same time, according to the diplomat, such actions demonstrate "who exactly opposes the exemption from criminal prosecution of these citizens and does not intend to fulfill Ukraine's obligations.
The previous prisoner exchange in Donbass took place in April 2020. Donetsk handed over nine people to Kiev and the latter passed ten people to Donetsk. Fifty detainees have been passed to the Republic over two years, but the DPR repeatedly stated that Kiev had not dropped charges or criminal prosecution against them.*ot