MOSCOW: Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, serving a 20-year jail sentence in Russia, has been moved to Moscow ahead of a possible prisoner swap, Russian news agencies reported Thursday.
Sentsov, who lived in Crimea and opposed its annexation by Moscow, was convicted in 2015 for plotting and carrying out attacks in a controversial case.
He is Ukraine’s most famous political prisoner in Russia and was sent to an Arctic penal colony despite a global campaign for his freedom, including by Hollywood stars.
Russian news agencies TASS and Interfax cited sources saying that Sentsov, 43, had been transferred to the capital.
“He was brought to Moscow in the framework of an exchange process,“ a source told Interfax.
TASS quoted a source as saying that Sentsov was shipped from his prison to the capital, without further details.
Sentsov’s lawyer Dmitry Dinze wrote on Facebook that he had no information about the move, and Russia’s prisons service (FSIN) could not be reached for comment.
A high-profile prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine has been discussed for days.
Ukraine on Wednesday released Russian state media journalist Kyrylo Vyshynsky pending his treason trial, a few weeks after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed to exchange him for Sentsov. — AFP
