Ukrainian political prisoners were transferred to a Moscow pre-trial detention center. Members of the PMC were not allowed to see them

Eight Ukrainian political prisoners were transferred from the regional institutions of the Federal Penitentiary Service to the Moscow SIZO-2 Lefortovo. Perhaps they are being prepared for a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine.

The fact that they ended up in Moscow was reported by journalist Viktoria Ivleva, who on August 20 brought parcels addressed to Vladimir Balukh, Pavel Grib, Nikolai Karpyuk, Stanislav Klykh and Alexander Kolchenko to the isolation ward.

The next day, writes Ivleva, the SIZO staff accepted parcels for three more political prisoners - Roman Sushchenko, Aleksey Sizonovich and Yevgeny Panov.

Members of the Public Monitoring Commission tried to visit some of those transferred to the pre-trial detention center, but they were not allowed to go there. This was reported by Interfax with reference to a member of the POC Evgeny Enikeev.

“The head of the regime and security department told us that the Ukrainians wrote a statement that they did not want to talk to anyone, but no one showed us these statements,” Enikeev told the agency.

Members of the PMC asked to be allowed to see the prisoners so that they would confirm their unwillingness to talk, but they were refused, allegedly because the pre-trial detention center employees were busy.

Interfax, citing an unnamed source, also reports that Ukrainian citizens who were transferred to a pre-trial detention center can be extradited to their homeland to serve their sentences. According to the source, the exchange procedure is still being discussed.

Kommersant's sources at the same time report that Russia and Ukraine have reached the final stage of negotiations on the exchange of detained citizens of both countries. First of all, we are talking about Ukrainian sailors captured by Russian security forces after the incident in the Kerch Strait.

According to Kommersant's source, the two sides are still agreeing on the list of persons to be exchanged. It is assumed that, in addition to the sailors, other persons will be handed over to Ukraine.

• The other day it became known that the pro-Ukrainian activist Volodymyr Balukh, convicted in Crimea, was taken from the colony to Moscow. In January 2018, he was sentenced to three years and seven months in a colony-settlement on charges of illegal possession of ammunition and explosives. He was also accused of assaulting the head of the temporary detention center and was ultimately sentenced on the basis of the combination of two cases to four years and 11 months in a general regime colony. The activist's defense and human rights activists believe that the cases were initiated because of Balukh's pro-Ukrainian position.
• About the case of Stanislav Klykh and Nikolai Karpyuk, sentenced to twenty or more years in a strict regime colony, here .
• About the case of Pavel Hryb, who was sentenced to six years in a penal colony, allegedly for facilitating terrorist activities, here .
• About Alexander Kolchenko, who was convicted along with director Oleg Sentsov in the case of "Crimean terrorists", here .
• About the case of Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko, who was sentenced to 12 years in the case of espionage - here .
• About Yevgeny Panov and the case of the "Crimean saboteurs" - here .
• About the Ukrainian pensioner Aleksey Sizonovich, sentenced to 12 years in a strict regime colony, allegedly for preparing a terrorist attack - here .