The Netherlands said Saturday it had pressed Kiev in vain to drop the handover to Russia of a key figure in the 2014 downing of Malaysian Airlines ...
KIEV: Russia and Ukraine made a long-awaited swap of 70 prisoners on Saturday , a deal hailed as a first step towards ending five years of tensions and conflict.
Among those swapped were 24 Ukrainian sailors, Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and Russian-Ukrainian journalist Kyrylo Vyshynsky. Western leaders welcomed the exchange, with US President Donald Trump saying it could be"a first giant step to peace" and German Chancellor Angela Merkel calling it a"sign of hope".
Russian President Vladimir Putin said this week that the exchange would be"a huge step towards normalising relations" with Kiev."It's necessary to maintain this drive to solve problems as much as possible," she said. "I thank all the people who have fought for us," Sentsov said at the airport in Kiev, where he was greeted by his teenage daughter who wept and smiled.The sailors, including two members of Ukraine's SBU security services, were detained last year when Russia seized three Ukrainian vessels off Crimea.The commander of the Ukrainian Navy, Admiral Igor Voronchenko, broke into tears as he embraced one of the freed sailors.
The Dutch government contacted Ukraine"several times and at the very highest level" to try to prevent Tsemakh's handover, Foreign Minister Stef Blok said.
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