MOSCOW, September 7 (RIA Novosti) - With the introduction of the ceasefire in the southeastern Ukraine, there is a unique chance to stop the war, and it is very important to follow this peace agreement, the head of the Presidential Human Rights Council (HRC), Mikhail Fedotov said.
"I can only say that we hope a lot that this agreement will be respected. It is crucial that today we have a unique opportunity to stop the war," Fedotov told RIA Novosti, noting that there was information that the exchange of prisoners had already begun.
"It gives us a good reason to hope. And we hope that the "al for all" prisoner exchange principle will be true for everyone," Russia’s senior human rights official said.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) website has published the full text of the protocol signed on Friday after a meeting of the trilateral Contact Group in Minsk concerning the situation in Ukraine. According to the agreement, Ukrainian authorities are required to adopt a law prohibiting the prosecution and punishment of individuals who participated in events "in certain areas" of Donetsk and Luhansk regions in Eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine has been engulfed in violent internal conflict since mid-April, when Kiev began its military operation against independence supporters in the southeastern regions of the country. According to United Nations’ estimates, over 2,500 people have been killed and more than 6,000 wounded since the start of the offensive.
