THANK GOD! Donbas and Ukrainian POWs Will Get to Celebrate New Year’s With Their Families
Today, the People's Republics of Donbas and Ukraine exchanged prisoners, which they agreed upon through the mediation of Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Kirill. The whole procedure took about four hours and went according to an unplanned scenario due to the fact that Kiev decided to change the arrangements at the last minute. When it became clear that, as a whole, the procedure was successful, President Petr Poroshenko unexpectedly and solemnly arrived at the spot and took pictures with the liberated soldiers.
Anton Stepanenko reporting.
The exchange was to take place at 1 p.m. Columns with Ukrainian prisoners of war departed early in the morning from Lugansk and Makeyevka in the direction of Gorlovka where the exchange was to take place near the checkpoint of Mayorsk. The cars arrived on time and began to wait for the signal from the Ukrainian side about the beginning of the exchange. By agreement, it was to be held in the neutral territory, in the so-called gray zone. On this site, the distance between the positions is slightly more than a kilometer. But there was no signal.
But civilians were coming and cars were driving from the Ukrainian side to the DPR. Ukraine didn’t block the road for the time of the exchange but continued allowing people to cross the line of demarcation. They waited for an hour, then for two, but nothing changed. And then, the plan was changed.
The first stage of prisoners of war exchange takes place on the Ukrainian side under the OSCE and the Red Cross guarantees. Lugansk brought 16 Ukrainian prisoners of war and received 75 in exchange.
Even the Lugansk military, accompanying the prisoners, didn’t know where the buses were going. We’ve just crossed the last DPR post, we’re moving through the neutral territory. The first Ukrainian post is behind us. But the buses continue to go. Five, ten, fifteen kilometers on the Ukrainian territory. A stop at the logistics center of the Armed Forces near Artyomovsk. There are slightly less Ukrainian journalists than military. The final check of lists and the reception and transfer of prisoners of war in a separate tent.
- Polkan?
- Here!
- Indyuk?
- Here.
The place of 16 Ukrainian prisoners of war is being taken in this tent by seven dozen prisoners of war leaving Ukraine. It takes little time, and the former prisoners of Kiev are seated in the buses.
A former prisoner: "Constant psychological pressure. For a needle and a thread, for spitting in the wrong place, for saying something wrong".
There are only three people from Lugansk in the buses. They served in the militia and were captured. All the rest are, as they are called, the "telephonists." They were imprisoned for far-fetched charges: for keeping in touch with separatists, for allegedly preparing sabotage and terrorist attacks.
A former prisoner: "I came to visit my grandmother in Ukraine, and they took me. They said I was preparing terrorist attacks. They said: "We know you have a grandmother there, sign it, or we'll find weapons in your possession".
Almost every one of these people spent two or three years in captivity, although, according to Kiev, they were convicted of terrorism, and now they’re pardoned by President Poroshenko. They have these certificates: "According to the decree of the President of Ukraine from December 26, 2017, number... About pardoning the convicts in the future serving of their sentence and releasing them".
But the lack of real documents, as it turns out, is the least of their problems. The former prisoners come from all over Ukraine. Lisichansk, Kharkov, Nikolaev, Poltava, and Odessa. They’re free, but not home. Kiev forced them to participate in the exchange. The alternative is to remain in prison for the full term, and people are punished with five, eight, or even fifteen years in prison for terrorist attacks.
A former prisoner:
- I went to visit my relatives and got captured. I didn’t have time to return.
- How long did you spend in captivity?
- Three years without a couple of months.
Or participate in the exchange.
The second stage of such a large-scale exchange is taking place on the DPR territory on the outskirts of Gorlovka.
Darya Morozova, DPR ombudsperson: "We did it. Ukraine brought people according to the lists."
Security and fulfillment of obligations at all stages of the exchange was guaranteed by representatives of the OSCE, the Red Cross, and the Moscow Patriarchate by their presence.
Father Andrei flew specially from Moscow.
Andrei Bondarenko, archpriest: "The church acted as an intermediary between the conflicting parties. We're witnessing the fact that the agreements reached in the patriarchal residence were fulfilled. Patriarch Kirill hopes, as he said, that this will be the beginning of finding a peaceful solution to the military conflict in eastern Ukraine."
Darya Morozova, DPR ombudsperson: "The authorities of the Republic, including me, express our deep gratitude to Patriarch Kirill. It all happened thanks to his support, thanks to the fact that he was able to convince the Ukrainian side, that with the New Year approaching, this step was needed, to make this political decision and to free people".
On the DPR Army post, we were told that it had been relatively quiet for two days already. Still, the exchange sector was under the international observers' scrutiny. But there are serious doubts about whether the trend will continue.
In the best traditions of the current Ukrainian policy, President Poroshenko hastened to appropriate the result of today's exchange. His press office published a photo of the Ukrainian president in military uniform, who, allegedly, personally came to talk with the released.
Both parties to the conflict fulfilled their obligations. This was stated today by Viktor Medvedchuk, Ukraine special representative in the contact group. According to him, we can already talk about preparing the second stage of the exchange. More than 100 people can be released in its framework. When it happens, the principle of total exchange, set by the Mink Agreements, will be fulfilled, as stated by Medvedchuk.
Viktor Medvedchuk: “This is the first stage of the total exchange principle fulfillment. On the second stage, we'll release 74 people who're still imprisoned in Ukraine and whom Donetsk and Lugansk are looking for and those whom we're looking for in Donetsk and Lugansk, we found out that there are 29 such people. In fact, that's what we can say today about the second stage. 74 to 29, it is, of course, more complicated as we're talking about people who are or were convicted of core crimes. But when the second stage is completed, we'll be able to say that the total exchange principle of Article 6 of the Minsk agreements can be fulfilled.”
Today's prisoners' exchange was the biggest in three years of the Donbass war and the first in 14 months. In 2015, there were 11 exchanges. Both sides exchanged 500 people each. But then, the process was always interrupted.
The situation started changing only after Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Kirill were asked for their support by Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk. The conversation took place in the New Jerusalem Monastery.
Viktor Medvedchuk: "I want to ask you, using your authority, to show humanism and address the unrecognized republics' heads, to hold this exchange as the first stage of the total exchange. I think it'd be a serious step both in the Minsk agreements fulfillment and the issue of peace in Donbas".
Patriarch Kirill: "I, personally, would like to ask you to support this idea. With joined efforts, we might be able to complete this wonderful procedure".
Vladimir Putin: "I'll do everything depending on me. I'll talk to the heads of both DPR and LPR. I hope that things that you propose will be fulfilled as soon as possible".
After this meeting, the President of Russia talked on the phone with the heads of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics and received their consent to hold the exchange.
A final agreement on the dated and conditions of the exchange was reached this week in Moscow where under Patriarch Kirill's mediation, negotiations between the representatives of Kiev, Donetsk, and Lugansk took place.
Anton Stepanenko, Artyom Grigoryan, Dmitry Maslennikov, and Andrey Rudenko, Vesti, Donbas.