The Russian side in Minsk refused to discuss the issue of the release of Ukrainian political prisoners on the "25 for 25" formula, as well as in a narrow format, First Deputy Chairperson of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada and Kyiv's representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group Iryna Gerashchenko said.

"The Russian Federation also categorically refused to discuss the issue of the release of convicted Russians to Kremlin political prisoners both in 25/25 format and in a narrow format (we offered to immediately transfer to us the sick Pavlo Hryb, the elderly Oleksiy Syzonovych and Volodymyr Balukh in exchange for Russians Sedikov and Vysotsky). Representatives of the Russian Federation once again abandoned their citizens and repeated the mantra about "internal conflict" and that "Kyiv must negotiate with Luhansk and Donetsk," wrote Gerashchenko on her Facebook page.

According to her, at this stage, the representatives of the Russian Federation are not ready for any progress in addressing humanitarian and security issues.

In addition, Gerashchenko reported that, within the framework of the humanitarian subgroup, in which representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine and the Ministry of Temporary Occupied Territories and IDPs, and the TCG are involved, the issue of the immediate release of the POW-sailors was raised. "Gryzlov [Russia's representative in the TCG Boris Gryzlov] hides his head and avoids discussing the problem," she added.