On July 20, Iryna Herashchenko, the First Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, a representative of the TCG’s humanitarian subgroup, held a meeting with the parliamentary ombudsperson Liudmyla Denisova
During her meeting with the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova, Iryna Herashchenko discussed the support for families of the Kremlin’s hostages and political prisoners.
The interlocutors discussed supporting the families of the hostages and political prisoners of the Kremlin, further coordinating efforts aimed to release the illegally detained citizens of Ukraine, informing Ukraine’s international partners about the current situation with the above detainees and the issue of ensuring access for international humanitarian missions, in particular, representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, to the illegally held Ukrainians.
"We are respectful to the principles of political indifference and neutrality that govern mission activities of the International Committee of the Red Cross, but there are no well-founded explanations why, during four years, the mission representatives have not visited any illegally held Ukrainian in both the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and in the Russian Federation,” stressed Iryna Herashchenko.
Particular attention was paid to supporting the families of the Kremlin’s hostages and political prisoners. According to I. Herashchenko and L. Denisova, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine should take a much activer position on the issue.
The interlocutors observed that presently the families have only been helped by volunteers, sponsors and private entrepreneurs, but not by the Government.
They also had talk over the taxing situation with the families of O. Kolchenko, V. Balukh, E. Panov, large families of representatives of the Crimean Tatar people, whose relatives, in most cases, are the only breadwinners in the family, and are currently confined forcibly.
The First Deputy declared that the Ukrainian law has already provided for some measures on financial support to the detainees’ families. There have been assigned, in particular, some UAH 97 million in the 2018 state budget for the line ministry to cope with the related pressing problems. However, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has failed to adopt any practical regulations for the use of the money within the last seven months.
It has been also informed that on March 1 the Parliament approved the resolution on appealing to the parliaments of foreign states and parliamentary assemblies of international organizations concerning Russia’s political repressions against Ukrainians as a result of the Russian armed aggression against Ukraine and the release of the political prisoners (2312-VIII), accompanied with the list of the illegally detained Ukrainians.
Based on the ample talks, the politicians have agreed to submit a corresponding motion to the Cabinet calling to refund expenses for traveling to and from the illegally detained Ukrainians to their relatives, as well as their attorney fees, and, in addition, to provide other social support to members of such families.