Ukrainians Jailed In Russia Flying To Kyiv In Apparent Exchange
By RFE/RL
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says two Ukrainian nationals jailed in Russia are aboard a Ukrainian plane and are flying to Kyiv.
Poroshenko wrote on Twitter on June 14 that Yuriy Soloshenko and Hennadiy Afanasyev would soon be in Ukraine in what is presumed to be an exchange with Moscow for Russians being held by Ukraine.
It is not clear with whom the two Ukrainians will be exchanged.
Media reports in Ukraine say that a Russian AN-148 landed at the airport in the town of Hostomel, near Kyiv, on June 14.
In May, the same plane took two Russian military officers jailed in Ukraine to Moscow in an exchange for Ukrainian military aviator Nadia Savchenko. who was being held by Russian authorities.
Afanasyev was sentenced to seven years in jail on terrorism charges in April 2015, while Soloshenko was sentenced to six years in jail on spying charges in October.
Russia has seen an unprecedented number of espionage and treason cases reach trial since illegally annexing Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014.
With reporting by UNIAN and espreso.tv
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