Ukraine's Prisoner Release Center chief Ruban banned from traveling to Donbas - SBU
KYIV. Feb 28 (Interfax) - The head of the Prisoner Release Center, Volodymyr Ruban, failed to give reasons why he had violated the rules governing crossing of the contact line in Donbas and therefore, the permission he had to cross the line was revoked, Olena Hitlyanska, spokesperson for the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), said.
"When talking to SBU officers yesterday, Ruban gave no explanations why he had violated the rules of crossing the contact line, citing Article 63 of the Ukrainian Constitution," Hitlyanska wrote on her Facebook page on Tuesday.
Ruban told media people that his trip had been made for the purpose of releasing hostages, while his application for permission to cross the contact line contained a different reason: 'taking care of the mother-in-law's apartment', she said
Ukraine's Interagency Coordination Headquarters has suspended the permission to cross the contact line that Ruban had been issued before until all circumstances are fund out, Hitlyanska said.
"The SBU welcomes any kind of assistance in the release of our compatriots but urges to stop all kinds of political speculations and self-promotion through this subject," she said.
On February 24, Ukrainian MP Nadiya Savchenko and Ruban arrived in Donetsk and visited a penal colony in Makiivka where some Ukrainian prisoners of war are reported to be held.
The SBU questioned Ruban in the Donetsk region over his breaching the existing regulation on the crossing of the separation line in Donbas. He was stripped of permission to cross the Donbas contact line on February 27. The press service of the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service reported that an administrative protocol was issued to Ruban under Article 202 of the Ukrainian Administrative Offence Code ('violation of the frontier regime or the regime at state border-crossing points').
Ruban maintained that an exchange of prisoners outside the scope of the Minsk Agreements failed because he had been stopped from crossing the separation line at the Maryinka checkpoint on February 27.
