Ukrainian film director and former political prisoner Oleh Sentsov has called on the European Parliament not to believe Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Don't believe Putin. Never," he said in Strasbourg, the Ukrainian TSN news service reports.
On November 26, Sentsov will personally be awarded the 2018 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, which he was awarded last year, but he was in a Russian jail.
It is noted the meeting with the film director was ignored by ultra-leftist MEPs.
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Other MEPs said they were glad that they already had an opportunity to give the prize to its owner.
In particular, MEP David McCallister said the European Parliament was happy to present Sentsov this award a year later, adding the film director had been awarded this prize for all other Ukrainian political prisoners held in Russia.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov was awarded the 2018 Sakharov Prize on October 25, 2018.
The 50,000 euro ($57,000) prize, named in honor of Soviet physicist and Nobel laureate Andrei Sakharov, was established by the European Parliament in 1988 to honor individuals and organizations who defend human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Sakharov was a founder of the Moscow Helsinki Group, a Soviet-era rights group.
