Dzerzhynsky district court in Donetsk region has sentenced Russian citizen Vladimir Starkov to 14 years imprisonment along with the confiscation of his property, deputy prosecutor general, chief military prosecutor Anatoliy Matios has announced.
“….first of all (in addition to other articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) for taking part in war actions against Ukraine and for executing orders of Russian General Staff Gerasimov, the verdict for Starkov is 14 years in jail with property confiscation,” he wrote on his Facebook account.
As reported, a Russian citizen named as Vladimir Starkov, who was arrested by Ukrainian border guards at Berezove checkpoint (Donetsk region) in the early hours of July 26 when transporting ammunition to the so-called ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’, has confessed to being a member of the Russian Armed Forces, Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Chief Vasyl Hrytsak said.
“Immediately after the arrest, Starkov confessed that he is a Russian citizen, and serves as a regular in the Russian Armed Forces,” Hrytsak said.
Chief of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Viktor Nazarenko reported that Starkov was born in 1978 and lived in Khabarovsk Krai.
He added that a Ukrainian citizen, Ruslan Iotko who was born 1967, was arrested along with Starkov.
Hrytsak said that after Starkov was detained, Russian military command staff instructed separatist militants to capture Ukrainian military personnel to be used as bargaining chips.
“According to preliminary information, after border guards captured Starkov, Russian commanders ordered the leaders of the ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ and ‘Luhansk People’s Republic’ terrorist organizations to do their best to capture Ukrainian military personnel as prisoners for a swap, at any cost, to take revenge…I don’t know what things the were guided when giving such an order,” Hrytsak said.
He also reported that the Ukrainian government has attempted to communicate with Starkov’s family without any success.
Hrytsak also said that there was an attempt to bribe Ukrainian border guards to release Starkov immediately after his arrest, however the attempt failed.
