The Russian Federal Penitentiary Service is supposed to submit its proposals to the Justice Ministry on the possible handover of four Ukrainian citizens convicted in Russia to Ukraine so that they continue serving time in their country, and a final decision on such a handover rests with a federal court, the Justice Ministry said in a statement in reply to a request by Interfax.

"Based on Ukraine's inquiry that we received on March 10, the Russian Justice Ministry forwarded letters of instruction to the Federal Penitentiary Service to prepare the necessary documents to consider the handover of the convicts Oleksandr Kolchenko, Hennadiy Afanasyev, Oleh Sentsov, and Yuriy Soloshenko, and also analyze the presence or absence of reasons preventing this handover," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian Justice Ministry was informed of this decision the same day, it said.