Statement on the priority of the “all for all” exchange in peace negotiations and the need to release Russian political prisoners We support the efforts of the international community aimed at ending the criminal war of conquest unleashed by Russia against Ukraine. We support the efforts of governments, individual politicians and public figures from different countries who are ready to act as mediators in organizing and conducting negotiations – if the result is a cessation of military actions, an end to bloodshed and human suffering, especially among civilians. Today we are not in a position to predict when and where these negotiations will begin, how they will go, what the agenda will be, which agreements will be reached and which will not. But we believe that one of the first mandatory decisions should be an agreement on the exchange of prisoners of war, as well as the bodies of dead soldiers and officers, on the principle of “all for all. ” In addition, the matter of releasing thousands of peaceful Ukrainian civilians forcibly detained by the Russian authorities must be resolved. We also believe that any settlement negotiations should include a demand for the release of Russian political prisoners. Hundreds of people have been deprived of their freedom and sentenced to long prison terms for their political position, civil activity, for calling war a war, telling the truth about the horrors of war, speaking out against war. These people must be released: the upcoming negotiations are their only chance for life and freedom.
The statement was signed by:
- S. Aleksashenko
- M. Gelman
- D. Gudkov
- B. Zimin
- G. Kasparov
- V. Kara-Murza
- E. Kiselev
- M. Kokorich
- E. Lukyanova
- M. Reznik
- A. Smolyaninov
- M. Khodorkovsky
- A. Shevchenko
- E. Shulman