Russian ombudsman Moskalkova holds 1st meeting with Ukrainian counterpart

MOSCOW. Oct 18 (Interfax) - Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova has said that she has held her first meeting with Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner Dmitry Lubinets, and the parties agreed to work on ensuring the conditions for holding prisoners and their further exchange.

"For the first time, I met with Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmitry Lubinets. We had a constructive dialogue and agreed to work on ensuring the conditions of detention of prisoners, their further exchange, protecting the rights of civilians and establishing the fate of the missing," Moskalkova said on her Telegram channel on Monday.

During the meeting, footage of which was published on the commissioner's Telegram channel, Moskalkova said it was necessary to help provide safety corridors and work with the evacuees. The commissioner's office is also ready to help the evacuees with documents.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday that more than 100 Russian citizens have been returned and 108 Ukrainian service women handed over to Ukraine as a result of talks with a Kiev-controlled territory.

"On October 17, as a result of negotiations, 110 Russian citizens, including 72 Russian sailors from civilian vessels which had been detained by the Kiev regime since February 2022, have been returned from territory controlled by the Kiev regime," the statement said.

"Handed over to Ukraine were 108 Ukrainian service women. Prior to the swap, two Ukrainian women refused to return to Ukraine, having expressed their wish to remain in the Russian Federation," the statement said.

In turn, Ukrainian media said that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky thanked all those involved in this proces when commenting on the latest exchange of captives between Ukraine and Russia.

"We managed to return 108 Ukrainian women - officers, sergeants, privates from the Army, Navy, territorial defense, National Guard, border guards. Ninety-six are armed forces personnel, including 37 evacuees from Azovstal. Another 12 are civilians," Zelensky said in a video address on Monday evening.

According to Ukrainian media reports, Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada human rights commissioner Dmitry Lubinets confirmed in a social media post that he met with Russian ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova during that exchange.

"The need for talks is a humanitarian matter. In particular, we discussed the need to intensify the repatriation of servicemen and the release of civilians," Lubinets said.

Lubinets said that Moskalkova and he also discussed "the need for bilateral interaction in a wide range of issues related to civilians: to work out procedures for visiting POWs, for inspecting the places of their detention both in Russian-controlled territory and in Ukraine, as well as to allow POWs to phone their relatives, carry out a thorough search for missing persons, facilitate the reunion of families when children and parents have ended up in different territories, re-issue refugees' documents, etc."

Upon completion of the meeting, the parties agreed to send official letters to facilitate the fulfillment of the aforementioned tasks aimed at protecting human rights, he said.