Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner Liudmyla Denisova has proposed considering an exchange of Russian citizen Alexei Sedikov, who is incarcerated in Ukraine, for one of the Ukrainian nationals who are imprisoned in Russia and need medical treatment.

"I suggest that you consider exchanging A.S. Sedikov, a citizen of the Russian Federation, for one of the Ukrainian citizens who are currently in Russian penitentiaries and require professional medical care with the involvement of medical specialists," Denisova wrote in a letter addressed to Russian Presidential Human Rights Council Chairman Mikhail Fedotov.

Candidates for the exchange could include Oleh Sentsov, Volodymyr Balukh, and Stanyslav Klykh, who have long been on hunger strike that is affecting their health, or Oleksandr Kolchenko, whose health, according to doctors, is getting worse.

Denisova wrote that on August 2, she received a copy of a letter from Sedikov to the Russian president in which the inmate asked to be transferred to Russia for further imprisonment.

Sedikov urgently needs a surgery on his right hip, which cannot be done in the Ukrainian penal colony where he is now, Denisova wrote.