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Kuchma expects next prisoner exchange by March

Russia's position remains the key factor, he says.

Kuchma expects next prisoner exchange by March
Leonid Kuchma
Photo: telegraf.com.ua

The next exchange of Ukrainian citizens illegally held in Donbas for government-held prisoners must be held before March 2018, but Russia's position remains the key factor, Ukraine's representative in the trilateral contact group on the Donbas settlement, Leonid Kuchma, has told Interfax-Ukraine.

"I think that today no-one will say when it is going to take place. Negotiations are not very active. You know that this depends on many factors, the most important factor being the position of the Russian side. If Russia says yes... and I still think that there will be an exchange by March," said Kuchma.

During the previous exchange on 27 December 2017, the government released 233 prisoners requested by militants while separatists let 74 Ukrainians go.

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