Off the wire
• 2nd LD Writethru: Former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, 46, dies of cancer  • Urgent: Gold up on Brussels attacks  • Azerbaijan tightens security after deadly Brussels attacks  • Belgium to respond to threat firmly, calmly, with dignity: King Philippe  • 1st LD Writethru: China's cross-border capital outflows pressure eases  • News Analysis: Concern over German economy remains despite improving economic morale  • Two refugees try to commit suicide near Greece-FYROM border crossing  • China police arrest 37 over vaccine scandal  • Kenya's electoral body registers 1.43 mln new voters  • Somali police nab 24 militants, recover explosive devices  
You are here: 　 Home

Poroshenko offers to swap two Russians detainees for Ukraine's pilot Savchenko

Xinhua, March 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Tuesday proposed swapping two Russian citizens detained in his country for Ukrainian army pilot Nadiya Savchenko convicted in Russia.

"Such an approach corresponds to item 6 of the Minsk agreements -- exchange all for all. This should be done immediately," Poroshenko said in a statement.

He pledged to ensure the transfer of the detained Russian citizens to their country through appropriate legal procedures if Moscow agrees on the swap.

A Russian court has sentenced Savchenko for 22 years behind the bars, after founding her guilty of complicity in killing civilians, including two Russian journalists, in 2014, local media reported.

The pilot has denied the charges and said she had been kidnapped in Ukraine and then handed over to Russian authorities.

In May 2015, Ukrainian security officers seized two Russian citizens while fighting in Ukraine's conflict-torn Lugansk region who claimed to be Russian soldiers. Currently, they are standing trial in Ukraine on terrorism charges.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that the two men captured by the Ukrainian forces had previously served in the Russian army, but had been no longer active servicemen when they were detained. Endit