Plenipotentiary representative of the Russian Federation in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) Boris Gryzlov has refused to hold a joint meeting of the TCG and humanitarian subgroup initiated by the Ukrainian side on the release of Ukrainian hostages and the transfer of Russians convicted in Ukraine in exchange for political prisoners in the Kremlin, Iryna Gerashchenko, the First Deputy Chairwoman of the Verkhovna Rada and Ukraine's representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) has said.

"Twice this month we've appealed to the OSCE moderators with the demand to hold a joint meeting of the TCG and the humanitarian subgroup on one issue: the release of hostages, the transfer of Russians in exchange for political prisoners of the Kremlin. Today Gryzlov has refused this initiative," Gerashchenko wrote on Facebook on Thursday afternoon.