Following the results of the videoconference, the participants of the humanitarian subgroup discussed issues related to the procedural cleansing of released persons during the exchanges. The Ukrainian side renounced its earlier undertaken obligations on cessation criminal prosecutions against the released persons. This practice casts doubt on all further attempts of exchanges, since it directly threatens the safety of citizens, creating the risk of subsequent criminal prosecution by Ukraine. A living testament of these fears is the re-arrest of the former exchange participant Sergei Pastukhov, who was detained on 15 June 2020, despite the earlier obligation that all exchange participants are guaranteed not to be subject to criminal prosecution, which was undertaken by the Ukrainian side.
Another important topic of the meeting was the discussion by the parties of the situation related to the mechanism of crossing the checkpoint “Elenovka” opened on 22 June 2020. So, the DPR will let into its territory only those citizens who have received official permission from the Headquarters to enter. In order to prevent possible speculations and attempts by Ukraine to mislead persons who have not received permission to enter, we will officially send the Ukrainian side a list of citizens who are allowed to cross the state border of the DPR.
