Russia Moves Jailed Ukrainian as Sides Plan Swap, Interfax Says

(Bloomberg) -- A Ukrainian filmmaker imprisoned in Russia for more than five years has been moved to Moscow, the Interfax news service reported Thursday, in the latest sign of a possible exchange of prisoners between the two countries.

Oleh Sentsov was transferred from a penal colony in Russia’s Arctic region to a detention center in the Russian capital as part of preparations for a swap, Interfax said, citing people it didn’t identify. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on Sentsov or prospects for an exchange of prisoners, in a conference call with reporters.

The development follows a Ukrainian court’s release of Russian journalist Kirill Vyshinsky, who’s facing treason charges, from pre-trial detention on Wednesday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last month suggested “releasing Vyshinsky and Sentsov simultaneously if we are talking about a goodwill gesture,” shortly after he discussed efforts to return prisoners in his first phone talk with Kremlin counterpart Vladimir Putin.

“Sentsov is the best known of those detained by Russia,” said Alexander Baunov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center. “Of course, his transfer to Ukraine will have great significance.”

Sentsov, 43, was sentenced to 20 years after being convicted of terrorism in a 2015 trial that the European Union said breached “elementary standards of justice.” A resident of Crimea, he was detained and accused of organizing a terrorist group two months after Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Black Sea peninsula which triggered international sanctions. He denied the charges and rejected the trial by a “court of occupiers,” which treated him as a Russian citizen even though he said remained a Ukrainian national.

Hunger Strike

The filmmaker went on hunger strike for more than 20 weeks last year to demand the release of Ukrainians he said were held as political prisoners in Russia.

A swap including Sentsov may take place as early as Friday, RIA Novosti reported in Kyiv, citing a lawmaker in former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s European Solidarity party. Russia and Ukraine may swap 33 prisoners from each side, RBC news website reported last week, citing unidentified people close to the discussions.

Past negotiations have come to nothing, however. Expectations of a deal were raised shortly before last month’s Ukrainian parliamentary elections won by Zelenskiy’s party, only to fizzle out.

Following his landslide election in April, Zelenskiy declared his determination to secure the release of Sentsov and 24 sailors seized by Russia following a naval clash near Crimea last year. He’s also pressing for renewed efforts to end the conflict with Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine that’s killed more than 13,000 people since 2014.

Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed in a phone talk Thursday to move forward preparations for a four-way summit with Zelenskiy and French President Emmanuel Macron, on implementation of a 2015 accord to try to resolve the conflict, according to a German government statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ilya Arkhipov in Moscow at iarkhipov@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Gregory L. White at gwhite64@bloomberg.net, Tony Halpin, Torrey Clark

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