Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry calls on Russia to immediately release all political prisoners

"Ukraine's Foreign Ministry calls on the Russian Federation to immediately and without any additional conditions to release all illegally detained citizens of Ukraine, to stop the practice of political persecution and repression of our compatriots," the document says. The Foreign Ministry points out that Ukraine and its international partners have been making all possible political, diplomatic, and legal efforts to release Ukrainian political prisoners from Russian captivity. However, Moscow continues to violate the international law and to hold in prisons Oleg Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Akhtem Chiygoz, Roman Sushchenko, Mykola Karpyuk, Ferat Sayfullayev, Serhiy Lytvynov, Alexei Chirniy, Ruslan Zeytullayev, Stanislav Klykh, Valentyn Vyhivsky, Yuri Primov, Viktor Shchur, Oleksandr Kostenko, Evhen Panov, Rustem Vaitov, Enver Bekirov, Emir-Usein Kuku, Vadym Siruk, Muslim Aliyev, Refat Alimov, Enver Mamutov, Arsen Dzhepparov, Remzi Memetov, Mustafa Degermendzhi, Zevri Abseitov, Rustem Abiltarov, Ali Asanov, Andriy Kolomiets, Volodymyr Balukh, Teymur Abdullayev, Uzair Abdullayev, Aider Saledinov, Volodymyr Prisich, Oleksiy Shtyblikov, Oleksiy Bessarab, Volodymyr Dudko, Oleksiy Stohniy, Hlib Shabliy, Leonid Parkhomenko, Redvan Suleymanov, Emil Dzhemadenov, Rustem Ismailov, Mykola Shyptur, and many other Ukrainians. Another two Ukrainian citizens, Ilmi Umerov and Mykola Semena, though are not imprisoned now, but are still persecuted by the Russian de facto authorities in Crimea. At the same time, despite the numerous calls of Ukraine and the international community to immediately release the illegally detained and convicted Ukrainians, the Russian leadership holds on to a shameful practice of using Ukrainian citizens as hostages of its aggressive policy against our country, the Foreign Ministry underscores. In this context, the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine calls on the UN member states to take further consolidated steps to step up pressure on the Russian Federation due to its willful violation of key provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel , Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and other fundamental international instruments.