A Ukrainian court has released the Russian journalist Kirill Vyzhinsky from pre-trial detention. He is suspected of high treason. The 52-year-old committed to further participation in the ongoing process, as reported by local media. He was threatened with up to 15 years in prison. Negotiations are ongoing between Russia and Ukraine for an exchange of prisoners.
In Russia, the release was welcomed. "We hope that this is not just an episode, but systematic changes in the approach of the Ukrainian side," said the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Russian Federation Council, Konstantin Kosachev, the state news agency Tass.
Vyshinsky is head of Ukraine office of a state Russian news agency. The 52-year-old was arrested by the Ukrainian secret service in May 2018. The Russian-Ukrainian dual citizen is said to have justified in his articles the Russian annexation of the Black Sea peninsula Crimea in 2014.
Vyshinsky refuses exchange
In July, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj considered an exchange of the journalist with film-maker Oleg Senzov, who had been arrested in Russia. According to Ukrainian media reports, Vyshinsky rejects an exchange because he wants to prove his innocence.
The relationship between Kiev and Moscow has been extremely strained since the Crimean crisis of 2014 and the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin had repeatedly condemned the arrest of Vyshinsky. In 2015, he granted the journalist Russian citizenship by decree.
In Berlin, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Adebahr said that the federal government had been monitoring the trial of Vyshinsky right from the start. She welcomed the release of the journalist as a step towards speeding up the procedure.