Photo: AP

Members of the OSCE mission spoke with “GRU soldiers” detained in Ukraine and accused of terrorism. The conversation took place in the absence of Ukrainian security officials. The detainees said that they were Russian military personnel.

Employees of the OSCE monitoring mission visited Russians detained in Ukraine, whom Kyiv considers to be military personnel of the Russian Federation. As stated in the May 20 report, OSCE staff were given the opportunity to talk with detainees in the absence of representatives of the Ukrainian authorities.

Do not participate in battles

“One of them stated that he received his military education in the Russian Federation. Both people stated that they were servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. They said they were on a reconnaissance mission. They were armed, but were not ordered to attack. Both said they came under fire, were wounded and captured on May 16, 2015, on the line of contact near Shchastya. One of them said that he received an order to go to Ukraine from his unit; he should be replaced on rotation after three months. Both said they had been to Ukraine “on assignment” before. One of them persistently repeated that Russian units are not participating in the battles in Ukraine,” the OSCE report retells the results of the conversation.

Earlier, Ukrainian authorities published video recordings of interrogations of detainees. It followed from them that 27-year-old Alexander Alexandrov from the Malomyzhsky district of the Kirov region and 29-year-old Evgeny Erofeev from Samara arrived in Ukraine on March 26, 2015 as part of a battalion group of 220 people. It included military personnel of the 3rd Separate Guards Special Purpose Brigade, stationed in Togliatti, under the command of Major Konstantin Napolskikh.

The detainees said that the battalion was allegedly stationed in the Oktyabrsky district of Lugansk. At the time of their arrest on May 16, 2015, Aleksandrov and Erofeev were part of a group of 14 intelligence officers, with Captain Yerofeyev commanding the group, and Aleksandrov performing the duties of a scout-medic, they said in a video published by the SBU. The group was reconnaissance of the area in the area of the bridge in front of the city of Shchastya, here they were discovered by Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers, wounded and detained in the ensuing battle. Alexander ov, as a scout-medic, tried to help the wounded commander Erofeev.

The Russian Ministry of Defense, in response to Kyiv’s statements, reported that Aleksandrov and Erofeev are former military personnel. The Kremlin also repeated earlier statements that the Russian military is not involved in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Quit early

The day before, the Rossiya 24 TV channel showed an interview with Alexandrov’s wife. She stated that her husband is not an active military personnel. In addition, she allegedly did not know that her husband was in Ukraine. After the interview was released, adviser to the head of the SBU Markiyan Lubkivsky said that the video was staged. According to him, Alexandrov’s wife works in the personnel department of the 3rd brigade of the GRU of the General Staff of the Russian Federation. “Aleksandrov’s wife works in the personnel department of her husband’s unit, so she could not help but know where he is. The interview is staged,” Ukrainian Pravda quotes Lubkivsky.

On Thursday, May 21, Vladimir Erofeev, the father of Captain Erofeev, said on Rossiya 24 that he knew about his son’s intention to go to Lugansk, and he confirmed the version of the Russian Ministry of Defense about his son’s dismissal from the armed forces. “He's an officer. More precisely, a former officer. I misspoke because there are no exes. After the New Year, he left the army. I didn't bother asking why. About Lugansk - I knew that he was leaving. I didn’t try to dissuade him - he’s already an adult,” said Erofeev’s father.

As RBC already wrote, both Russians were charged with participating in terrorist activities; the Kyiv authorities stated that Erofeev and Aleksandrov cannot be considered prisoners of war, since Russia and Ukraine are not at war and the Russian authorities did not recognize them as servicemen of their country.

The authorities of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic said that Kyiv security forces detained two “LPR people’s militia fighters,” while the head of the LPR, Igor Plotnitsky, said that negotiations were underway on their priority exchange.

At the time of preparation of this material, Erofeev and Aleksandrov were in the Kiev military hospital at 18 Gospitalnaya Street, Novaya Gazeta correspondent Pavel Kanygin, who visited them with other journalists, told RBC. According to him, both of them feel satisfactory.

Soldiers of the invisible front