Russian and Ukrainian commissioners held talks on the humanitarian issues on the sidelines of an international ombudsman conference in Turkey’s capital Ankara on Thursday, Reuters reports.
This is the third meeting between the two sides on the sidelines of the conference. Two meetings have been held on Tuesday evening and Wednesday noon. This was a closed-door meeting just as the previous two. Turkey’s chief ombudsman and other officials also attended the meeting.
"We exchanged lists of civilians who want to go back to their countries at this meeting in Ankara. It is important that this is a human rights issue and it should not be politicized or double-labeled so that it can be resolved effectively and correctly," said Tatyana Moskalkova, Russia's human rights commissioner.
"Everybody heard the new initiative from the President of Turkey about the new idea on humanitarian corridor. I think it's good. I think this new platform can do better [for] the procedure of the exchange of prisoners," said Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian Parliament ombudsman for human rights.
An official at the Ukrainian embassy in Turkey said the talks lasted about four hours, but the official did not say if any tangible progress was made. According to Turkish media, all sides expressed their views on the ceasefire during the meeting.
Turkey held talks with Russian and Ukrainian human rights commissioners, hoping to establish a roadmap on children's rights, human rights and the exchange of prisoners, and open a humanitarian corridor, said Turkey’s chief ombudsman Seref Malkoc on Wednesday.
