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Donetsk republic says got no Kiev’s proposals on prisoner swap

Donetsk People's Republic envoy to the Minsk talks Denis Pushilin also added that the proposals "should not be sent through mass media"

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

DONETSK, September 2. /TASS/. The Ukrainian side hasn’t sent any official proposals to the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic on a new prisoner exchange, DPR’s envoy to the Minsk talks Denis Pushilin told reporters on Friday.

"We aren’t ready to discuss proposals that are sent through mass media," Pushilin told the Donetsk News Agency, adding that DPR’s human rights commissioner Darya Morozova hasn’t received any offers.

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Pushilin also stressed that the DPR insists that Kiev should adopt a law on amnesty envisaged by the Minsk agreements signed in February 2015. Otherwise, the prisoner exchange may be delayed forever, he added.

On Thursday, Ukraine’s Security Service chief Vasily Grytsak said 57 Ukrainian prisoners were held in custody in Donbass and expressed hope that they would be released soon. Some 400 supporters of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics were held captive by Kiev, he added.

The DPR human rights commissioner earlier said around 960 people are currently being held in custody by the Ukrainian side, including more than 150 civilians who have no relation to the conflict. Nearly 500 people are also missing.

The Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk agreements signed in Minsk on February 12, 2015, after marathon talks by the Normandy Four (Russia, Germany, France, Ukraine) leaders envisage prisoner swaps between Kiev and the Donbass region in an all-for-all format.

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