Ageev incident: whether the new prisoner exchange is possible between Ukraine and Russia?
In the discussion of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict in recent times often referred to the story of Corporal Ageev. According to some experts, the exchange of the detainee at the Donbass Russian military is only possible if the general public.
Svetlana Ageev – the mother of Russian military Victor Ageev, was captured by the army in the Ukrainian Donbass – turned to the presidents of Russia and Ukraine. She asks to release and pardon of his son, who was accusing Kiev of terrorism. July 22, Petro Poroshenko and Security Service organized a meeting with the prisoner’s mother in jail Starobelska Luhansk region. Svetlana Ageev said that still does not understand how her son was on the Ukrainian territory. In the beginning of July, Victor Ageev in an interview with Ukrainian TV channel “1 + 1” has admitted that he – HR Russian military and signed a one-year contract for the four days prior to shipment to Ukraine. He faces a prison sentence of 8 to 15 years.
Head of the Permanent Commission on Human Rights of the Presidential Council on the rights of military servicemen, the coordinator of the human rights initiative “Citizen and the Army”, a member of the Moscow Helsinki Group Sergei Krivenko says that Viktor Ageev be able to return home only if Russia, his situation will get quite a lot of publicity.
– Speaking about the exchange of Victor Ageev very difficult, because the conflict in Donbas from Russia for a long time there are no clear rules, it is not clear what can be expected. Exchange the example of Alexander Alexandrov Evgeny Erofeev is possible only with broad international public. In Ukraine, the civil society can affect their power and it is very difficult in Russia, especially regarding the events that affect the Russian participation in the war in the Donbas. We still have a few media that can talk about such things. And if the general public does not know does not have to wait about a Russian prisoner, and the exchange. Anyway, the Kremlin used to deny everything and very reluctantly come to some steps.
Sergey Krivenko also notes that get in Donetsk or Lugansk as a Russian human rights activist, to check the conditions of detention of prisoners Ukrainian, and even impossible. In such circumstances, negotiations on the exchange are haphazard and often spontaneously, says human rights activist.
– There is not even understand, who is engaged in an exchange – whether on the Foreign Ministry’s line, whether on the FSB. Logic is also difficult to understand: sometimes let alone, and last for years in other negotiations. Only the loud media campaign can be calculated in a hybrid war conditions that will force release of a prisoner.
Ukrainian human rights activist of the Center for Civil Liberties, coordinator of media campaign Let My People Go Maria Tomak draws attention to the fact that Russia is not fundamentally ready to negotiate the release of prisoners of conscience, the Crimean.
– We have different negotiation processes. Within the framework of the Minsk agreements, human rights defenders working for the captives to temporarily uncontrolled territories in the east of Ukraine. All that is outside the region, Russia does not recognize. About Krymchane speech and does not go – about the citizens of Ukraine, which are held in Russia. If the decisions of the judiciary so-called “DNR” and “LNR” do not recognize in Moscow, the sentences of their vessels in the Crimea Russia considers legitimate. Gennady Afanasiev returned to Ukraine rather an exception than the rule. That is to look for any particular format for the release of political prisoners in the Crimean, but we do not see, so that the Ukrainian authorities were quite interested in this.
Sourse, 31/07/2017
