The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has sent a note to the Russian side with the demand to transfer Ukrainian prisoner Oleksandr Kolchenko from a punishment isolation cell to a cell with normal conditions as soon as possible.

The Department of Consular Service of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine reported on its Facebook page on Friday that on Thursday they learnt that Ukrainian citizen Kolchenko, who was unlawfully sentenced in Russia for ten years in a penal colony in the case of the so-called "Crimean terrorists," had recently been transferred to one of the prison institutions in the town of Kopeysk, Chelyabinsk region, where under false pretenses and without any explanation he was transferred to a solitary confinement, which is a gross violation of his rights.

"In order to restore the Ukrainian citizen's rights that have been infringed, the Foreign Ministry has sent a note to the Russian side, in which it demands Kolchenko's rights should be observed, he should be transferred into a regular cell with normal conditions of confinement, all necessary measures should be taken to prevent such incidents from happening in the future, and the Ukrainian should be immediately released and returned home," the statement reads.

On August 25, 2015, the North Caucasus District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don issued a guilty verdict against Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov to a cumulative term of 20 years in a high-security prison for the alleged "preparation of terror attacks in Crimea". The second defendant in the case, Kolchenko, was sentenced to ten years in a high-security prison for the alleged "involvement in a terrorist group and aiding and abetting a terror attack."

On March 10, the Ukrainian Justice Ministry said it sent a request to the Russian counterparts asking them to hand over Ukrainians Oleh Sentsov, Hennadiy Afanasyev, Oleksandr Kolchenko, and Yuriy Soloshenko, convicted by Russian courts to Ukraine under the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons.

The Russian Justice Ministry said it will respond to Ukraine's inquiry on within a month's time.