DISINFO: Previous government was sabotaging prisoner exchanges in Donbas due to anti-Russian hysteria and Russophobia
SUMMARY
If there was a clear decision to exchange all prisoners, then it could be implemented. It will take a short period of time. This could have been done under Poroshenko, but he didn’t want it, intentionally, because he didn’t need any territory or these people, he needed a policy of anti-Russian hysteria and Russophobia.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the War in Ukraine and the Minsk agreements. In the last five years, numerous talks on the exchange of the prisoners have been held in the Minsk format (in the Trilateral Contact Group). As a result, hundreds of prisoners have been exchanged during 2014-2017. In general, 4 prisoner swaps have taken place: on 26-27 December 2014, 26-27 August 2015, 2 August 2017, and 27 December 2017. Recently, on 7 September 2019, another exchange took place when both Ukraine and Russia released 35 prisoners. President Zelenskyy has also mentioned that the prisoner exchange is one of the major topics to be discussed during the meeting on 9 December 2019 in France in the Normandy Format. See previous disinformation narrative claiming that Kyiv has no intention of exchanging prisoners with the Kremlin.