What did the September 2019 prisoner swap involve?

What was in the prisoner exchange that Russia and Ukraine carried out, and why did one name on the list draw an objection from the Netherlands? A look back at the days around 10 September 2019 shows a swap that was prepared quickly and reported on 7 September 2019.

The run-up

On 5 September 2019, the Court of Appeal in Kyiv ruled to release Volodymyr Tsemakh, a person of interest in the case of the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. On the same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin said both countries were finalising negotiations on a "rather large-scale" prisoner exchange.

The exchange

As reported on 7 September 2019, the two countries swapped prisoners on a 35-to-35 basis. Those freed included Oleg Sentsov, Mykola Karpyuk, Olexandr Kolchenko and Roman Sushchenko, along with 24 Ukrainian Navy sailors detained by Russia during the 2018 Kerch Strait incident. Kirill Vyshinsky was also part of the exchange.

The MH17 dimension

Tsemakh's inclusion was the sharpest point of contention. The Dutch government said it seriously regretted that he was part of the swap. The case concerns Flight 17, a scheduled Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur passenger flight that was shot down over eastern Ukraine on 17 July 2014 by Russian-backed forces with a Buk missile. All 283 passengers and 15 crew were killed.

The sequence also shows how closely the court decision and the exchange were linked in time: the appeal ruling came two days before the swap, and the Russian president's remark about finalising talks came on the same day as the ruling.

Reaction

U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed the exchange, describing it as a possible first step towards peace.

Domestic politics

Separately, on 4 September 2019 the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine decided to dismiss Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko from his post as head of the Kyiv City State Administration.