Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova has appealed to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko with the request to consider the possibility of exchanging Ukrainian fishermen of the YaMK-0041 vessel for sailors of the Kerch seiner Nord, the press service of the Ukrainian ombudsman reported on Monday.

Denisova said in her appeal to the president that last week she was contacted by the families of crewmembers of the YaMK-0041, a fishing vessel detained on May 4, 2018 by the Russian border service, with the request to help return sailors to mainland Ukraine. They informed the ombudsman that five Ukrainians were on board the YaMK-0041. After detention, they have been held on the territory of the Crimean peninsula for two months.

"According to the information I have, the captain is being held in Simferopol's detention center, and the other crewmembers are in the status of witnesses and cannot leave the territory of the Crimean peninsula because of the withdrawal of passports of a citizen of Ukraine for traveling abroad. In accordance with the information I have, the condition of sailors is extremely unsatisfactory. They are subject to psychological pressure and intimidation on the part of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation," the commissioner said.

Taking this into account, Denisova appealed to Poroshenko with the request to consider exchanging fishermen of the YaMK-0041 vessel for sailors of the Nord, a seiner detained by the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service.