Published December 01, 2015
President Petro Poroshenko has pardoned a Russian citizen arrested in eastern Ukraine and exchanged him for a Ukrainian serviceman held by Russian-backed separatists.
Poroshenko announced the exchange on his official website, which showed a photograph of him meeting early Tuesday with the freed Ukrainian, Andrei Grechanov.
The president said he pardoned Vladimir Starkov, a Russian who was arrested in July while driving a truck loaded with ammunition in eastern Ukraine and later sentenced to 14 years in prison. Ukrainian security services released a video in which Starkov acknowledged being a Russian military officer.
Russia has denied sending troops and weapons to eastern Ukraine, where separatists have been fighting government troops since April 2014 in a conflict that has killed more than 8,000 people.
A cease-fire has largely held since September.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/ukrainian-president-pardons-russian-citizen-in-exchange-for-serviceman-held-by-rebels