Communication with Russia for transferring letters and parcels to prisoners of war is maintained, but there are manipulations - Ombudsman
Kyiv • UNN
Ukraine maintains communication with the Russian ombudswoman, which has allowed thousands of letters and parcels to be delivered to Ukrainian prisoners of war. However, the Russian side uses these transfers for psychological pressure and manipulation, not always delivering the contents in full.
Ukraine maintains a communication channel with the Russian ombudswoman, which allowed thousands of letters and parcels to be delivered to Ukrainian prisoners of war. At the same time, the Russian side often uses these transfers for manipulation and psychological pressure. This was stated by the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada Dmytro Lubinets during a press conference on Wednesday, as reported by the UNN correspondent.
Details
When asked whether Ukraine maintains contact with the Commissioner for Human Rights in Russia, Tatyana Moskalkova, Lubinets replied that yes, this communication channel is working.
"Last year, we held several rounds of negotiations. We exchanged 3,000 postcards that were handed over to prisoners of war. From the Ukrainian side, we handed over these postcards to Russian prisoners of war who are physically in Ukraine. Moskalkova, through her employees, handed over these postcards to Ukrainian prisoners of war," Lubinets said.
He added that the same number of parcels were also handed over. They included essential items: clothes, hygiene products, etc., but not all prisoners of war received them.
"We have recorded facts that some of the guys were brought these packages, given them in their hands, photographed, and immediately taken away. We have cases when packages were opened in the presence of Ukrainian prisoners of war, shown what was transferred there, but only a small part was given away. And the same with postcards, there were cases when they were given to read and taken away or simply shown: 'Here is a postcard that came to you, but we will not let you read it,'" he noted.
Also, according to Lubinets, Russia maintains the practice when prisoners of war are told that "Ukraine allegedly invited them for an exchange, they are taken away somewhere, and then returned," explaining this by the fact that the Ukrainian side refused them.
Thus, the Russian Federation additionally puts psychological pressure on Ukrainian prisoners of war, Lubinets explained. After that, Ukrainian prisoners of war are usually offered to obtain a Russian passport and write an application to join the Russian army, and "this happens under the full control of the central authorities of the Russian Federation."
"We see that a system of discrediting the authorities of Ukraine and the exchange process is working, and a picture is being created that Ukraine is to blame for the fact that not all our heroes have returned from Russian captivity," Lubinets emphasized.