You're reading: Two Ukrainian hostages released from Russian captivity

Another two Ukrainian hostages, Yuriy Soloshenko and Hennadiy Afanasiev, were released from Russian captivity in Moscow on June 14 after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to pardon them.

Soloshenko was convicted by a Russian court
of spying, and Afanasiev for organizing acts of terrorism in Crimea. Both have
spent 767 days in prison. Ukraine, Western governments and international human
rights organizations have said the charges against the two Ukrainians were fabricated.

“One year, 10 months, and 10 days I was
waiting for this moment… and I believed that it would come …. You cannot
imagine what it is to return home after all of that,” Soloshenko told the press
after his release and return to Ukraine. He thanked everyone who had helped to release
him from captivity.

Soloshenko and Afanasiev were exchanged for
Ukrainian citizens Olena Hlishchynska and Vitaliy Didenko, who were charged
with promoting separatism in Ukraine.
They were accused of organizing and actively participating in the so-called
People’s Council of Bessarabia in April 2014 in Odesa. As a part of exchange,
they arrived in Moscow on a Ukrainian plane at the same time the two Ukrainians
hostages were released.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said
that bringing back Soloshenko and Afanasiev had been made possible by the Minsk
II agreement, which he said confirmed its effectiveness. He said he also hopes
to bring back at least 25 other political prisoners detained in Russia and in
parts of Ukraine that are under the control of Russian-backed armed groups.

Poroshenko said Soloshenko and Afanasiev were
the first hostages to be brought back from Russia after Ukrainian pilot and
lawmaker of the Batkivshchyna Party Nadiya Savchenko because of their poor
state of health. Both were taken to hospital in an ambulance immediately upon
arrival in Ukraine.

Soloshenko, who is 73, has serious health
problems – he suffers from cancer and heart disease.

Afanasiev is suffering from a blood
infection, and, according to his attorney Alexander Popkov, was subjected to
torture and abuse at the hands of his Russian captors. Besides being beaten, Afanasiev
was exposed to constant psychological pressure, Popkov said.

“I sincerely thank the Ukrainian people,
the Ukrainian president … that Ukraine and the Ukrainians are fighting for
every one of our citizens,” Afanasiev said on his release. Both said they
expected the release of other hostages held captive in Russia.

Afanasiev also appealed to the
international community to extend sanctions against Russia. “I went through
torture and pain and saw a lot of trouble happen to lots of people. I ask you do
not abandon the sanctions and continue this policy, and do not to cancel any of
(the sanctions),” he said. “I’m very happy that I’m a Ukrainian citizen.”

Afanasiev was charged with being a member
of the Ukrainian ultranationalist organization Right Sector and plotting terror
attacks in Crimea. He pleaded guilty and was convicted to seven years in jail.

He was the first of four Ukrainians
arrested in Crimean to be tried in December 2014, seven months after being
kidnapped in Simferopol on May 9, 2014. After 10 days of what his lawyer said
was brutal mistreatment and torture following his capture, he was transferred
to Moscow. He pleaded guilty and gave evidence against filmmaker Oleg Sentsov
and other Ukrainian activists.

His attorney Alexander Popkov told the Kyiv
Post in October that Afanasiev remembers the faces of all of his torturers.
Besides being beaten, Afanasiev “was threatened with reprisals against his
mother,” Popkov said. “He was told ‘We will bring your mother to the next room,
and you will hear us doing the same to her.’”

But at Sentsov’s trial, Afanasiev suddenly
withdrew his testimony, saying he had confessed under duress. “I decided to do
it if there was a chance it to save innocent people,” Afanasiev told his
attorney Popkov. “I can’t live with not telling the truth.”

After Savchenko was released on May 25,
Afanasiev applied for a pardon.

“Russian representatives strongly
recommended that my client in Moscow appeal for a pardon, and he has done so.
He has written an appeal without admitting guilt,” Popkov told the Interfax
news agency on May 30.

According to Popkov, Soloshenko appealed
for a pardon as well.

Soloshenko was on a business trip to Russia
when he was arrested and charged with buying “secret state equipment.”
Soloshenko used to work as a director of the Znamia defense company in Poltava,
and had made many business trips to Russia.

Soloshenko faced 20 years in prison for
espionage, which at his age was effectively a death sentence.

While Savchenko, Afanasiev, and Soloshenko have
now been released, another 29 Ukrainian hostages are still in illegal detention
in Russia and Crimea, according to the Let My People Go initiative, a civil
organization. All of the hostages held in the Russian Federation have already been
convicted in Russian courts.

On May 26, the Supreme Court of the Chechen
Republic issued a final ruling against Ukrainians Mykola Karpyuk and Stanislav
Klyhk, who were accused of taking part in the first Chechen War in the winter of
1994-1995. Karpyuk was sentenced to 22 years in prison, and Klyhk to 20 years.