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OSCE hails prisoner swap in Donbass

Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson in-Office in Ukraine Martin Sajdik also called to continue efforts towards conflict settlement

KIEV, December 29. /TASS/. Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson in-Office in Ukraine Martin Sajdik has hailed Sunday’s prisoner exchange between Kiev and the Donbass republics.

"I sincerely welcome the mutual release and exchange of detainees today, pursuant to a common decision of the Trilateral Contract Group, with the participation of representatives of certain areas of Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine, taken on 23 December 2019. This is a very important step, which has been long awaited by both the detainees and their relatives and friends, made on the eve of the New Year and Christmas celebrations, it has special symbolic resonance," he said in press statement on Sunday.

He called on the parties to "to continue to apply all necessary efforts to achieve a peaceful settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine through the full and comprehensive implementation of the Minsk agreements, including by drawing on the recommendations of the Normandy Four."

Kiev and the Donbass republics exchanged prisoners earlier on Sunday. The swap was carried put near the Mayorskoye checkpoint. According to preliminary data, Ukraine released 124 people and the Donbass republics handed over to Kiev 76 people.

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