Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that negotiations on the exchange of detainees with Ukraine are entering the final stage and that the exchange will be "large-scale."
He said this during a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum on Thursday, according to Russian news agency TASS.
"As for the exchange, I think it will be rather big, large-scale," Putin said.
According to him, "it would be a good step forward towards normalization."
"For humanitarian reasons, we are finalizing the talks with officials and other parties. I think a relevant announcement will be made soon enough," Putin said.
He once again called "inevitable" the normalization of relations between Moscow and Kyiv.
"I think that in the historical perspective, this will inevitably happen. I mean full normalization in relations because we are two parts of the same people. I said this many times," Putin said.
On Thursday, September 5, Kyiv Court of Appeal released from custody on personal recognizance of the former "air defense commander" of the town of Snizhne, a witness in the MH17 case, Volodymyr Tsemakh, whom Russia, according to media reports, wants to see in the prisoner swap list.
In late June this year, Ukrainian special services detained Tsemakh in the territory of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic."
On June 28, Tsemakh was taken to Kyiv, and on June 29, Shevchenkivsky District Court ruled to arrest him for two months.
Tsemakh is suspected of committing a criminal offense provided for in Part 1 of Article 258-3 (the creation of a terrorist group or terrorist organization) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
In an interview with a separatist media outlet, Tsemakh openly spoke about the crash of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 and even confirmed that a missile had been launched from a Buk air defense missile system.
In May 2018, the Netherlands and Australia officially stated that they hold the Russian state legally responsible for the downing of MH17.
Dutch law enforcers declared their desire to question Tsemakh.