On July 24, there was a ‘get-real’ meeting led by the First Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Herashchenko with the families of the hostages and political detainees held by the Kremlin
The event was also attended by Refat Chubarov, MP, the Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, Liudmyla Denisova, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Yurii Kachanov, the head of the Joint Center for Coordination of Search, Release of Captives, Hostages and Location of Missing Persons in the ATO (JFO) area, representatives of the Presidential Administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the families of the captives held in the Russian Federation and public figures dealing with liberation of the illegally held citizens of Ukraine.
I.Herashchenko informed the participants about the steps taken by the authorities for the release of the illegally detained citizens of Ukraine held in the Russian Federation and in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.
Particular attention was paid to the support rendered by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to the families of the hostages and political prisoners. "Those Ukrainians under forced isolation are the only breadwinners in the family in most cases. Members of such families do need urgent financial support from the Government for travelling to their illegally detained Ukrainian relatives, for covering attorney fees, and other social support", said I. Herashchenko.
The First Deputy declared that the Ukrainian law has already provided for some measures of 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 also been 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.
It was also agreed to submit a corresponding joint - together with the Parliament’s ombudsperson - 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.
In addition, I. Herashchenko informed those present about drafting the law on the legal status of the Kremlin’s political prisoners. According to the politician, this issue will be of high priority during the next session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
The event audience heard the Ombudsperson L.Denisova on the measures taken to ease visiting the detainees in Russia and the occupied territories. A representative of the foreign affairs ministry then delivered a report on physical condition of O.Sentsov, V.Balukh, P.Gryb, S.Klykh and other Kremlin’s captives.
During the task meeting, the participants exchanged their views on further steps to address the admission of Ukraine’s ombudsperson and representatives of international humanitarian missions to illegally detained Ukrainians and to pile on the sanctions pressure against Russia in order to release the hostages and the political prisoners of the Kremlin.
"The agreements on reciprocal visits by the Russian and Ukrainian ombudspersons of the Russian citizens detained in Ukraine for crimes against the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the Kremlin’s hostages and political prisoners in Russia, searching for missing persons and the release of all illegally detained Ukrainians will be touched upon during the regular meeting of the TCG’s humanitarian subgroup on July 25", said I. Herashchenko.
In addition, the representative of the TСG’s humanitarian subgroup I. Herashchenko expressed her hopes that the Russian TCG representatives would officially respond to Ukraine’s proposal of 05.07.2018 concerning the reciprocal release of thirty-six Russian citizens convicted or detained for crimes against Ukraine’s territorial integrity for political prisoners of the Kremlin.