Translated material
The Russian Foreign Ministry demanded that Ukraine allow diplomats to visit Russians detained in Donbass
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation demanded that the Ukrainian authorities urgently allow representatives of the Russian embassy to see Yevgeny Yerofeyev and Alexander Aleksandrov, two Russians detained in Donbass on May 16.
The Foreign Ministry said that immediately after the detention of Erofeev and Aleksandrov, the Russian embassy demanded that they arrange a meeting with the Russian consul. “However, this problem has not been resolved so far,” the ministry said in a statement.
The Ukrainian authorities politicize this topic, incorrectly using the media for this purpose.
- The Security Service of Ukraine previously claimed that Russian representatives did not ask the Ukrainian authorities for a meeting of diplomats with Yerofeyev and Aleksandrov. At the same time, the SBU promised to organize such a meeting when a corresponding request was received. The Russian embassy in Kyiv said that diplomats were ready to visit the detainees, but the Ukrainian authorities do not give such permission.
- Erofeev and Aleksandrov were detained by Ukrainian servicemen during a battle near the town of Shchastia in the Luhansk region. The Ukrainian authorities claim that the detainees serve in the GRU special forces. Erofeev and Aleksandrov confirmed this information in a video released by the SBU.
- The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation stated that the detainees had indeed previously served in the Russian army, but at the time of detention they were not active military personnel. In the LPR, Erofeev and Aleksandrov were called police officers of the self-proclaimed republic.