Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Russia had given its consent to the involvement of ICRC officials in resolving the issue of captives release at the recent negotiations in the "Normandy format."
“We have finally received the Russian side’s consent, with the clear and coordinated work done by me as president of Ukraine, the German chancellor and the president of France. We have received confirmation and we will now see how it will be eventually implemented,” the president said in an interview with STB channel.
He added that he had emphasized the importance of fulfilling the provision on the immediate release of prisoners during the negotiations. “The International Committee of the Red Cross is involved in it in accordance with my proposal. I talked with Peter Mauer, president of this organization, and he supported Ukraine in that ICRC officials should take part in it and set three main tasks,” Poroshenko said.
He said the first thing is the inspection of conditions and release of those prisoners whose location is known. “The second thing is the search for other places where hostages are illegally held, and the third is the search for the missing persons to immediately intensify this work because it has virtually been blocked for a long time,” the president said.
