The Kremlin has offered to release Ukrainian fishermen it detained in May in exchange for the crew of a fishing boat registered in Crimea that Ukraine arrested in March.
Russian coast guards stopped the Ukrainian vessel, the YAMK-0041, in the Black Sea on May 4, and illegally took its crew to the Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory of Crimea.
Earlier, on March 25, Ukraine arrested the crew of another fishing boat, the Crimea-registered Nord, for illegally sailing under the Russian flag and for poaching.
The Ukrainian fishermen are being held in Sevastopol, Crimea by the Russian occupation authorities. The Ukrainians feel abandoned by Kyiv and want to return to their families, said the self-declared ombudswoman of Crimea, Lyudmila Lubina, in a statement published on her website on Aug. 27.
The Ukrainian government says the Russian offer of an exchange amounts to an admission by the Kremlin that it is involved in “political terrorism.”
“So they want just to trade hostages who weren’t even tried for any crime in Crimea,” Boris Babin, the Ukrainian president’s representative on Crimea issues wrote on Facebook on Aug. 28.
Babin argued that because the Ukrainians have not been given a trial, offering them in an exchange now means that Russia is, in essence, trading them as hostages—not prisoners.
“So what prevents you from letting them go today?” he wrote.
As the Kyiv Post reported in July, the arrest of the Ukrainian fishing boat Nord by Ukrainian coast guards in the Azov Sea stoked tensions between Ukraine and Russia in the region.
“We demand that (Ukraine) ceases mocking Russian citizens and grants them the opportunity to return home to their families without hindrance,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in April, referring to the crew of the Crimea-registered fishing boat.
“Our patience is not unlimited. We reserve the right to respond severely,” the Russians added.
The response came swiftly. In May, Russia arrested the YAMK-0041 and its crew of five, accusing them of poaching.
The Ukrainian fishermen are still detained in Crimea. Formal charges have been filed against only the captain of the boat, who was charged with fishing illegally in the Black Sea near the shores of Crimea.
Russia now considers the area part of its “unique economic zone,” but in fact, Crimea is under illegal military occupation by the Kremlin and remains part of Ukraine, according to international law.
“Russia is ready for a trade and has repeatedly made official requests to the Ukrainian ombudswoman for an exchange,” Russian Human Rights Ombudswoman Tatiana Moskalkova said in a statement on Aug. 27.
“It seems that Ukraine, as well as the YAMK-0041 vessel owner, have forgotten about their citizens, who want to get back home,” Moskalkova said.
On July 16, Ukrainian Human Rights Ombudswoman Lyudmila Denisova sent a letter to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko with a request for an exchange of the arrested crew of the Nord for the YAMK-0041 sailors. Denisova said that the YAMK-0041’s captain is in a Simferopol pre-trial detention center. His crew has not been jailed, but the FSB, Russia’s security service, has forbidden them from leaving Crimea.
Lubina said that the Ukrainian hostages have been kept illegally in Crimea for four months, have no money for living expenses, and need financial help from Ukraine.
Russia has abducted and illegally jailed more than 103 Ukrainians since 2014. One of its most famous prisoners, Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov has been on hunger strike for more than 100 days in a Russian prison.
Politicians, world leaders, celebrities and civil activists have been calling on the Kremlin to release Sentsov and other Ukrainian hostages, but the Kremlin has has ignored those so far.
