Germany’s Foreign Office confirmed on Friday that there are a “low double-digit number of people” with German citizenship still being held in Russia. A “single-digit number of Germans” are also being held in Belarus, the Foreign Office said on Friday.
The Russian authorities have been refusing to allow the German diplomatic mission to visit prisoners who have both Russian and German citizenship for around two years.
“They treat people with Russian and another nationality exclusively as Russian citizens,” the Foreign Office said, adding that Germany did not share this view and was endeavouring “emphatically” to gain consular access in all cases.
In a comprehensive prisoner exchange on Thursday, Russia and Belarus released 16 people who had been imprisoned for their activities as journalists, artists, opposition members or activists, among other things.
In return, 10 people were handed over to Moscow, including the convicted hit-man Vadim Krasikov, and spies. The German citizens who were released were Rico K., who had been sentenced to death in Belarus, and four men who had been detained in Russia.
