On May 15, the
Ukrainian Security Service carried out a large-scale operation against RIA
Novosti Ukraine staff members, accusing them of high treason.
MOSCOW, June 9.
/TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin in a telephone call with his Ukrainian
counterpart Pyotr Poroshenko demanded the immediate release of Russian
journalists arrested in Ukraine, the Kremlin press service said in a statement.
"Particular
attention was paid to humanitarian issues, including the exchange of
detainees," the statement reads. "Vladimir Putin emphasized the need
to immediately release Russian journalists arrested in Ukraine," the
Kremlin press service said, adding that "an agreement was made that both
countries’ Russian and Ukrainian human rights ombudspersons would visit Russian
citizens who remain in custody in Ukraine and Ukrainian citizens detained in
Russia," the statement adds.
The telephone call
was initiated by Kiev.
Vyshinsky case
On May 15, the
Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) carried out a large-scale operation against
RIA Novosti Ukraine staff members, accusing them of high treason. The news
agency’s Chief Editor Kirill Vyshinsky was detained. Searches were conducted in
the news agency’s Kiev office and press center, as well as in some journalists’
apartments. The SBU also issued a statement claiming that "a network of
media structures, which Moscow used for carrying out a hybrid war" against
Kiev had been exposed.
The journalist was
taken to the city of Kherson, where the city court arrested him for 60 days.
The high treason charge against him is particularly based on a number of the
journalist’s articles dedicated to the 2014 events in Crimea. If found guilty,
the journalist may face up to 15 years in prison.
Vyshinsky, originally
a Ukrainian national, obtained Russian citizenship in 2015. Vyshinsky addressed
Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko from the courtroom, renouncing his
Ukrainian citizenship and saying he considered himself to be only a Russian
national. He also addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin, asking for legal
assistance in his release.
Sentsov and others
At the Contact
Group’s recent Minsk meeting, Ukrainian Presidential Envoy for the Peaceful
Settlement of the Situation in the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions Irina
Gerashchenko presented a list of 23 Russians to be handed over to Moscow in
exchange for Ukrainian citizens convicted in Russia. She said that Kiev was
ready to hand over 23 Russians convicted in Ukraine in exchange for Oleg
Sentsov, Alexander Kolchenko, Stanislav Klykh and Pavel Grib.
On August 25, 2015,
Russia’s North Caucasus District Military Court sentenced Oleg Sentsov to 20
years in prison on charges of establishing a terrorist group in Crimea. In the
spring of 2014, the group’s members carried two terrorist attacks in the
Crimean city of Simferopol, setting on fire the offices of Crimea’s Russian
Community organization and the United Russia party’s Crimean branch.
Source: ITAR-TASS
09-06-2018
