Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets reported that Ukraine has banned Russian prisoners of war from making phone calls home. This ban is not a violation of the Geneva Convention.
Points of attention
- This decision was made due to the growing number of cases of ill-treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war by the Russians.
- The decision does not violate the Geneva Convention, since the document only provides for the possibility of correspondence.
- Payment for phone calls to prisoners of war is covered by their earnings, but not everyone can afford it.
Why Ukraine banned Russian prisoners from calling home
As the ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets noted, such a decision was made due to the growing number of cases of ill-treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war by the Russians.
According to him, the ban on phone calls does not violate the Geneva Convention, because this document only provides for the possibility of correspondence.
We cannot afford to behave like the Russians. And we understand that. Some things have to be changed. For example, there were long discussions about the possibility of Russian prisoners of war to call their relatives in Russia. Now it is known that they still have the right to correspond, but phone calls are no longer allowed.
Dmytro Lubinets
Ukrainian Ombudsman
What preceded it
In April, on the website of the Cabinet of Ministers, a petition with a call to suspend the granting of the right to telephone communication to Russian prisoners of war gained the necessary votes.
The petition noted that currently Ukrainian servicemen who are in captivity in Russia are deprived of the opportunity to have a telephone connection with Ukraine. In addition, Ukrainian captured defenders are also deprived of a stable opportunity to correspond with their relatives.
However, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, responding to this petition, said that he considers such telephone conversations important so that Russians are not afraid of surrendering.
Petro Yatsenko, head of the press service of the Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, previously told online.ua that Ukraine pays quite significant sums for these calls, because they are not cheap. They are partly covered by the money that prisoners of war earn, but not all of them earn enough and not all of them are sent enough money by their relatives.
We hoped that Russia would allow us to contact our relatives. And she eventually began to allow contact with relatives, but in a very perverted way. That is, these are not calls, not a normal conversation, this is propaganda.
This is a matter for negotiations, and if the other side is not ready for it, then of course we are free to stop this possibility. Because everything else, what is written in the Geneva Conventions, we fulfill.
