Current Kiev Authorities Unwilling To Exchange Illegally Held Persons - Putin

The current Ukrainian authorities do not want to exchange illegally held persons, which is definitely not accepted by Donbas representatives, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

SINGAPORE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th November, 2018) The current Ukrainian authorities do not want to exchange illegally held persons, which is definitely not accepted by Donbas representatives, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

"The Ukrainian authorities declare some people - who are being held in Kiev prisons, in various institutions and are simply being held without trial - criminals, who are subjected to the criminal prosecution procedure under the current Ukrainian legislation. They are not included in the lists of exchanged persons. Of course, representatives of Donbas [region] do not agree with this, they can just as well treat anyone through their judicial procedures and exclude such people from the list of persons, who will be exchanged," Putin said, adding that the Ukrainian authorities had no desire to exchange the illegally held persons.

The president cited as an example the situation around Russian fishermen detained in the Sea of Azov.

"These are absolutely illegal actions. And when our border guards detained the relevant [Ukrainian] vessels, [Kiev] did not want to discuss that, as if these people did not exist. This is how the current [Ukrainian] authorities treat their citizens," Putin added.