Moscow (AFP)
Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, imprisoned in Russia, has been transferred to Moscow from his camp in the Russian Far North, the Russian news agency Interfax said on Thursday, suggesting it would be a first step towards handing it over to Ukraine. part of a prisoner exchange.
"He was transferred to Moscow as part of an ongoing exchange (of prisoners)," said a source "knowledgeable" quoted by the agency.
In late July, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed to Russia to exchange Oleg Sentsov against the Ukrainian-Russian journalist Kyrylo Vychynsky, tried for "high treason" in Kiev.
In response, Kremlin human rights delegate Tatiana Moskalkova said Vychynsky was "categorically opposed to any exchange", saying he should be released "without any preconditions".
On Wednesday, Ukraine released Kyrylo Vychynsky, a surprise decision by the Ukrainian court, as Kiev and Moscow discuss a possible exchange of dozens of prisoners held by the two countries.
Several media have said in recent weeks that this exchange, the first for several years, could be implemented by the end of August and include the 24 Ukrainian sailors detained in Russia after a naval incident in the Black Sea last November.
Oleg Sentsov was arrested in May 2014 in Crimea after protests against the annexation of this peninsula by Moscow. His case is the best known among the dozens of Ukrainians detained in Russia and considered as "political prisoners" by Kiev.
Sentenced to 20 years in prison for "terrorism" and "arms smuggling" in Russia after a trial called "Stalinist" by the NGO Amnesty International, the 43-year-old director is being held in a prison Great Russian north. Ukraine, Westerners and many celebrities have called for his release.
Kyrylo Vychynsky, 52, former head of the Russian news agency Ria Novosti in Ukraine, was arrested in Kiev in May 2018 and charged with "high treason", a crime punishable by 15 years in prison. His arrest was strongly denounced by Moscow.
© 2019 AFP