168 civilians illegally detained on the territory of Ukraine from Russia were returned in 2022. Among them are truckers, sailors and employees of individual enterprises. This was reported to Izvestia by Tatyana Moskalkova, Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation.
“In 2022 <…> as a result of interaction with the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and special services, civilians illegally detained on the territory of Ukraine were returned home – truckers, sailors, employees of enterprises – a total of 168 people, ”she said.
Alexander Dragalev, senior assistant to the captain of the Volgo-Balt-244 vessel, who returned to Russia in October, noted that many people had been in limbo for several months. The Russians all this time lived on the ship, and they received almost no medical assistance, so many had “shattered health,” he added.
The commissioner’s office also participates in the work carried out by the Ministry of Defense on the exchange of prisoners of war. According to Tatyana Moskalkova, “there is progress in this difficult process” and a joint search for the missing has been established with the Ukrainian side.
In early January, Tatyana Moskalkova traveled to Turkey, where she met with Ukrainian counterpart Dmitry Lubinets to facilitate a prisoner-of-war exchange. By the way, then she reported that the ombudsmen managed to facilitate the release of 40 Russian and 40 Ukrainian soldiers. However, the human rights activist did not specify during which exchanges between the countries these people were released.
