"Unfortunately, we haven’t succeeded yet. They are still there, in Krasnodar prison, but the chances are minimal, since we have already received an official response from the Russian MFA’s representative office in Krasnodar, containing an actual refusal, stating that visits to prisoners by foreign doctors are not provided for by the current legislation," Serhiy Pohoreltsev, director of the consular service department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, has told UNIAN.
"In fact, I repeat, there are very few chances, but since it's about the health of the guy, actually, the child, we use every miserable chance," Pohoreltsev said.
Read alsoFollowing ECHR request, Ukraine to send doctors to Pavlo Hryb held in Russia’s Krasnodar"If they fail to get to him today, then obviously there’ll be no sense for the doctors to stay there any longer, although as of this moment, our consuls and doctors continue to try to get in. More appeals have already been made in this regard, but that’s the only result we have so far. There is no permit," the diplomat said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, a member of the State Border Guard Service's public council, Ihor Hryb, said on August 28 his 19-year-old son, Pavlo Hryb, was missing. Pavlo reportedly disappeared in Belarus on August 24 after he had traveled to the city of Gomel for a meeting with a Russian girl whom he met on social networks and who had allegedly also flown to Gomel.
The youngster's father said Pavlo was supposed to return on the same day. When it did not happen, the father went to Gomel in search for his son. He found out that Pavlo was wanted by the FSB in Krasnodar Krai (Sochi) under Article 205 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (an act of terrorism).
Read alsoUkrainian teenager's condition in Russian prison deteriorates without medicinesIt became known on September 7 that Pavlo was being kept in pre-trial detention center No. 5 in the Russian city of Krasnodar. On September 13 the court in Krasnodar ruled to arrest Pavlo Hryb until October 17.
On September 15, the Foreign Ministry reported that Hryb was transferred from the detention facility to a medical center. On September 16, he was returned to the detention facility. On October 6, lawyer Yevgenia Zakrevskaya stated that the ECHR invited Ukrainian doctors to assess Pavlo’s health condition and to find out whether he receives the treatment required.
"I hope that the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Health and the Ombudsperson will do everything to ensure that our doctors get to Pavlo Hryb as soon as possible, while Russia will not dare violate the direct instruction by the ECHR and refuse their access to Pavlo," the lawyer said.
Read alsoJournalists find out how FSB lured Ukrainian youngster to Belarus for abductionThe case of Pavlo Hryb is being personally supervised by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin.