MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th December, 2019) About 200 people will be celebrating the New Year with their families, or at least in freedom, whereas just recently they were languishing behind bars for involvement in the only war on the European continent.
The first prisoner exchange since 2017 between Kiev and the self-declared Donbas republics, Donetsk and Luhansk, came as a result of a multi-stage diplomatic maneuvering which looks to grant the young administration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a good deal of diplomatic experience as well as assurance to the Ukrainian electorate of working towards a key campaign promise: peace in Donbas.
The Normandy Four summit in Paris in early December birthed a communique in which the participants (France, Russia, Germany and Ukraine) called on the contact groups to work out a mechanism to exchange all prisoners for all.
This spurred a wave of diplomatic activity which at first looked doomed to failure as Ukraine didn't have the legal mechanism to release some key prisoners.
However, an agreement was struck on December 23 through video-conference between the contact group, involving Russia, Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
The exchange was set for December 29.
The main sticking point of the operation for the Ukrainian public was the inclusion of ex-Berkut officers in the upcoming exchange.
Five men who were serving sentences in Ukraine for charges of shooting to kill during the EuroMaidan events in 2013 and 2014, the genesis of the war in Ukraine, had been a symbol of the previous government's violent crackdown on protesting civilians in central Kiev.
Word of their imminent released sparked a spontaneous protest on Saturday outside the detention center where they were being held before court hearings.
The Ukrainian president's office justified the move with the fact that the ex-Berkut officers were to be released in any case and that this way, Russia is indirectly implicated in the EuroMaidan violence.
The group's lawyer Valentin Rybin confirmed on Sunday to Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform that the five men were exchanged.
According to official information, exactly 200 people were exchanged between Ukraine and each of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) and Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), with 127 people heading out of Ukraine and 76 heading in the opposite direction.
Kiev released 63 prisoners to LPR in exchange for 25 and 61 to DPR in exchange for 51, according to official representatives of either breakaway republic.
Head of LPR Leonid Pasechnik called the exchange a victory for Donbas
"[The prisoner exchange is] another victory of Donbass right on New Year's Eve. Our people are finally returning home. I express gratitude to everyone who took part in difficult negotiations," Pasechnik wrote on Twitter.
Interestingly, DPR Ombudswoman Daria Morozova that 20 people held in Ukraine refused to take part in the exchange and return to Donbas. The Names or reasons for refusals have not been reported.
GOOD SPIRITS FOR THE FESTIVE SEASON
The successful exchange of prisoners, which took place along highly fraught contact lines, received an outpouring of positive reactions from the international community and was positively assessed by the presidents of Ukraine and Russia.
Most embassies of major powers in Kiev put out statements of congratulations to both sides and called for more action to bring lasting peace in the drawn-out conflict.
"France and Germany welcome the release of 76 Ukrainian detainees and join in the joy of their families and of all Ukrainians. We welcome this new step which follows the recent N4 [Normandy Four] summit and call on the parties to implement all of the commitments made on December 9 at the Paris summit," the French embassy in Ukraine wrote on Twitter.
The US embassy in Ukraine joined those who hailed the exchange of prisoners in Donbas.
"We welcome today's [Sunday] return of liberated captives from Russia-controlled Donbas, as agreed at the December 9 Normandy Summit," the diplomatic mission wrote on Twitter.
The prisoner's exchanged on Sunday are not strictly "all-for-all" as had been stated earlier, since those released were only those with completed convictions who are serving out sentences. All sides still have prisoners on various stages of prosecution whose exchange will be the subject of upcoming diplomatic efforts.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said that an "All-to-All" formula would be a priority for Kiev at the next meeting in the so-called Normandy format.
