Commissioner for Human Rights of the Europe Council, Dunja Mijatovic, has issued letters addressed to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin regarding the situation with persons who were detained and/or imprisoned in these two countries.

Mijatovic urged the authorities of the Russian Federation and Ukraine to do everything possible and urgently consider the most urgent needs of these people in order to prevent further deterioration of their situation, which can lead to irreversible consequences, the website of the Council of Europe reported on Tuesday.

The CoE Commissioner for Human Rights also confirmed her willingness to assist in overcoming the impasse and in assisting in the settlement of the situation of detained persons, including by way of their release on humanitarian grounds.

In her letters addressed to Lavrov and Klimkin, Mijatovic expressed her support for the cooperation of the Ombudswomen of Ukraine and Russia on the issue of the situation of the detained persons, which the presidents of the two countries agreed during a telephone conversation in June this year.

I continued to monitor the situation closely, and I regret to note the lack of any progress in meeting the most urgent humanitarian needs of prisoners and detainees, as the condition of some of them continues to deteriorate. It is critically important to make tangible progress in settling this matter. Urgently, I would like to ask you and your authorities to do everything possible and everything necessary to avoid further damage to health and the threat to the lives of prisoners and detainees, Mijatovic said.