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Prisoner swap between Kiev, Donbass gives hope for implementation of Minsk accords - MP

"It is now up to Kiev, first of all, and Donetsk and Lugansk as well to demonstrate political will," Konstantin Kosachev noted

MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. Sunday’s prisoner exchange between Kiev and the Donbass republics gives hope that all the other provisions of the Minsk agreements will be ultimately implemented sooner or later, a senior Russian lawmaker told TASS.

"One way or another, the countdown has ultimately started in the right direction. And it gives hope for the implementation of all the rest provisions of the Minsk agreements sooner or later, especially provisions five (about the amnesty), eleven (about the constitutional reform and Donbass’ special status), and twelve (about elections)," said Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the international committee of Russia’s Federation Council upper parliament house.

"The Steinmeier formula and another prisoner exchange create all the preconditions for that. It is now up to Kiev, first of all, and Donetsk and Lugansk as well to demonstrate political will. Today, this will was shown, despite the resistance on both sides," he added.

He stressed that it was a good news for both who had been exchanged - "these people are free, at home, and will be able to see in the New Year with their families" - and those who insisted on the implementation of the Minsk agreements. He recalled that provision six of the Minsk accords provides for the release and exchange of all prisoners and illegally kept people on the basis of the all-for-all principle.

Kiev and the Donbass republics exchanged prisoners earlier on Sunday. The swap was carried put near the Mayorskoye checkpoint. The Contact Group on the settlement of the situation in eastern Ukraine agreed at the beginning of the week to conduct a prisoner exchange by the yearend, with was among the provisions of the final document of the latest Normandy Four summit in Paris.

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