Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has pointed out the importance of retaining the international pressure on Russia in the issue of releasing Ukrainian political prisoners and hostages.
“This is consistent, public and media pressure on Russia. It needs to continue, and it is very important right now, during the World Cup, because Russia’s image is important for Russia,” Klimkin said on the Inter TV channel on Friday.
The foreign minister said that it is important to coordinate efforts. In this regard, he recalled the visit of the Ukrainian ombudsman to Russia in order to check the conditions of detention of Ukrainians convicted in the Russian Federation.
“We will see their physical and emotional state. It is important to make progress, and this happened for the first time during the meeting of the Normandy Four, when we really discussed both the release of political prisoners and the release of hostages,” he said.
“I told [Russian Foreign Minister Sergey] Lavrov that Russia does not care about Russian citizens who are here, and we must begin a serious conversation,” Klimkin said.
