Ukraine and Russia Carry Out Prisoner Swap. Timeline of Events

Welcome home, guys.

13:45. The exchange can be considered complete. The sailors were the first to leave the plane, followed by the rest. Welcome home, guys.

13:38. Volodymyr Zelensky went alone to greet those returning to Ukraine.

13:25. Sonya Koshkina published a photo of the prisoners who had been sent to Russia.

13:06. Ombudsman Nina Karpacheva: “Ukrainian President Zelensky pardoned 16 people, three of them women. Russian President Vladimir Putin pardoned 11 people”.

12:55. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived at Boryspil airport.

12:38. Ukrainska Pravda published the “35 for 35” exchange lists. Oleg Sentsov, Volodymyr Balukh, Mykola Karpiuk, Stanislav Klykh, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Pavlo Hryb and Roman Sushchenko are flying home. 

12:32. Planes took off simultaneously from Kyiv and Moscow. On board the plane heading to the Ukrainian capital, as Zik reports, Oleg Sentsov is present.

12:17. Planes in Kyiv and Moscow are preparing for takeoff.

12:13. SBU head Ivan Bakanov and Interior Minister Arsen Avakov are at Boryspil.

11:58. Reports say Tsemakh is on board the plane departing for Russia.

11:39. Relatives of the imprisoned Ukrainians left the office of the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights and set off for the airport on four buses.  

11:28. Russian propagandist journalist Alexander Kots reports that Kirill Vyshinsky has arrived for the exchange. Tsemakh is not there yet.  

11:02. A list of prisoners that Ukraine is handing over to the Russian side has surfaced online. The list contains 37 people in total, only 12 of whom are Russian citizens. The rest are Ukrainian citizens. Volodymyr Tsemakh and Kirill Vyshinsky are not on the list, probably because they are taking part in the exchange informally.  

The process of exchanging prisoners between Ukraine and Russia began on the morning of September 7. As Russian media report, at 9:00 two passenger buses left Moscow’s Lefortovo detention center, escorted by FSB vehicles, and headed for Vnukovo airport.

Mark Feigin
Public defender of Roman Sushchenko

According to my information, the exchange involves 35 people: 24 sailors and 11 convicted Ukrainians: Sentsov, Sushchenko, Panov, Kolchenko, Klykh, Karpiuk, Hryb, Sizonovych, Balukh, Artur Panov, Bekirov.

The process of exchanging prisoners between Ukraine and Russia began on the morning of September 7. At 9:00 two passenger buses left Moscow’s Lefortovo detention center, escorted by FSB vehicles, and headed for Vnukovo airport.

A plane of the Rossiya airline took off from Moscow for Kyiv, while at the same Vnukovo a plane bearing Ukrainian insignia landed.

Plans by Kyiv and Moscow to hold a prisoner exchange were first reported by the media in August this year, after five Ukrainians sentenced in Russia were transferred from colonies to the Lefortovo detention center in Moscow. 

On August 28, Kirill Vyshinsky, editor-in-chief of RIA Novosti Ukraine, whom Kyiv had proposed exchanging for Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov, was released from detention, and according to a source speaking to Interfax-Ukraine, Vyshinsky will be included in the exchange list.

The day before, important witness in the MH17 case Volodymyr Tsemakh was also released by the Kyiv Court of Appeal on personal bail guarantee.