During the armed conflict in Donbas, the DPR authorities achieved the release of almost 900 people from Ukrainian captivity. The Human Rights Ombudsman in the DPR, the representative of the Republic in the Minsk subgroup on the humanitarian issues Daria Morozova stated about this to DAN.
“Since August 2014, we have conducted 36 exchanges of detainees, as a result of which 771 people were transferred to the Ukrainian side, 879 people were transferred to the DPR”, – Morozova said.
She recalled that after the signing of “Minsk-2”, the most productive year in terms of exchange was 2017, when a total of 160 people were transferred to Donetsk. The last time the exchange of detainees was in April 2020, when the DPR transferred nine people and returned ten ones.
Six years have passed since the signing of the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements (Minsk-2), which is the basis for a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Donbas.
The set of measures involves a ceasefire in the region, the withdrawal of heavy weapons, an amnesty for the parties to the conflict, a discussion of modalities for the resumption of payments of benefits and pensions to residents of the DPR and the LPR, constitutional reform in Ukraine, which should result in a deep decentralization of state administration. At the same time, local elections should be held in Donbas, after which the region should receive a special status (the right to its own law enforcement forces, courts, prosecutors, linguistic self-determination, cooperation with the Russian Federation, etc.). After that, it is possible to discuss the transfer of control over the Russian border to Kiev.
