Kyiv sends note of protest to Moscow over involvement of Russian servicemen in …
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has sent a note of protest to Russia over the involvement of Russian military servicemen in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
“An official note of protest was sent to the Russian Foreign Ministry’s address today, because the detention of these two servicemen, Yerofeyev and Alexandrov, explicitly proves all those violations of international law that are being committed on Russia’s part in the context of its aggression against Ukraine,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Special Ambassador Dmytro Kuleba said at a news briefing in Kyiv on May 19.
The presence of Russian military servicemen on Ukrainian territory and their involvement in armed clashes with Ukrainian antiterrorist operation (ATO) forces casts doubt on Russia’s intention to implement the Minsk agreements in good faith, he said.
International Committee of the Red Cross workers will be provided with access to the Russian servicemen, he said.
The Ukrainian Security Service had announced earlier that the Ukrainian armed forces had detained two Russian citizens, Alexander Alexandrov and Yevgeny Yerofeyev, in the Luhansk region, claiming that they were Russian active military servicemen.
The Russian Defense Ministry demanded on Monday that Kyiv stop torturing and free whom it defined as former Russian servicemen detained by the Ukrainian Security Service.