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Kiev agrees to consider prisoner swap — Lugansk envoy

Ukraine’s representatives agreed to consider the possibility of '618 for 47' prisoner swap, which is closer to the ‘all-for-all’ format, envisaged in the Minsk accords

© Valeriy Sharifulin/TASS

LUGANSK, September 22. /TASS/. Ukraine’s representatives at talks in Minsk have agreed to consider the possibility of a prisoner swap under the "618 for 47" formula, Vladislav Deinego, the chief negotiator for the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) at talks of the Contact Group for the settlement in Donbass, said on Thursday.

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"After representatives from the republics stated readiness saying it was necessary to carry out a swap on an ‘618 for 47’ basis, thus getting closer to the ‘all-for-all’ formula to return home all on the confirmed by the sides lists, Ukraine’s representatives have agreed to look into this possibility," Deinego told the LuganskInformCenter news agency.

At a session of the Contact Group on September 21, representatives from the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics suggested to Kiev to release 665 people held prisoner on both sides. Members of the Contact Group for the settlement of the situation in the east of Ukraine at a meeting in Minsk on February 12, 2015, agreed a Complex of Measures to implement the Minsk agreements, where an item binds the parties to release prisoners of war on the "all for all" basis.

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