For the first time, the Russian side agreed to adopt lists of persons held captive since 2014.

On Thursday, January 12, another round of negotiations between Ukrainian and Russian ombudsmen Dmytro Lubynets and Tetyana Moskalkova took place in Turkey.

As the Ukrainian ombudsman told on the air of the telethon, for the first time the Russian side left the meeting with proposals that were previously discussed.

“There is no breakthrough, but at least the technical work has started: we exchange lists, information. We work on the missing persons separately. There are already cases where our citizens and heroes, who were considered dead, were confirmed alive by the Russian side – 23 of our guys. This is a huge positive.” Lubynets said.

He also added that they discussed the release of civilians held in Russian captivity since 2014. There are 158 such people on the list.

“158 citizens of Ukraine, most of whom are representatives of the Crimean Tatar people. Probably, for the first time, the Russian side agreed to accept the lists and, after working through them, provide information about where these people are and what their condition is. They also discussed various options for their return.” he added.

Negotiations of ombudsmen of Ukraine and the Russian Federation

On January 11, Human Rights Commissioners of Ukraine and the Russian Federation Dmytro Lubynets and Tetyana Moskalkova met in Ankara (Turkey) on the sidelines of the international conference “The Future of Human Rights in the 21st Century”.

In conclusion, Lubynets said that a wide range of humanitarian problems and issues related to the provision of human rights assistance to Russians and Ukrainians were discussed. He also noted that it was possible to exchange specific proposals.

During the second meeting of ombudsmen, the Turkish side also took part (Speaker of the Turkish Parliament Mustafa Şentop and Chief Ombudsman of Turkey Şeref Malkoç).

“During the discussion, specific proposals were made from the Turkish side to intensify the resolution of humanitarian issues. Turkey, as a partner of Ukraine, has repeatedly demonstrated its active participation in solving many problems related to Russia’s armed aggression,” Lubynets reported after the meeting, emphasizing that a successful case of cooperation with Turkey as an intermediary was already the “grain agreement”.