Kremlin Offers No Comments on Possible Transfer of 2 Ukrainian Convicts

Moscow has no comments regarding an alleged beginning of a transfer of imprisoned Ukrainian nationals Yuri Soloshenko and Gennady Afanasyev to Kiev, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, Ukrainian media reported that two airplanes were heading from Kiev to Moscow to return Soloshenko and Afanasyev, imprisoned in Russia.

"I have nothing to say on the issue at the moment," Peskov told journalists.

The General Staff of Ukraine also said Tuesday it had no information about a Ukrainian Defense Ministry aircraft reportedly being readied to pick up Soloshenko and Afanasyev in Moscow.

Afanasyev was detained by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) in the city of Simferopol in May 2014 and sentenced to seven years in prison for plotting to carry out terrorist attacks in Crimea. Details of Soloshenko's case have not been revealed, but media reports suggest he was sentenced to six years in jail for attempting to transfer Russian weapons to Ukraine.

In late May, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that some preliminary agreements for the return of Afanasyev and Soloshenko to Ukraine had been reached.