Moscow - Mikhail Fedotov, the head of the Russian presidential Human Rights Council, has appealed to Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Valeria Lutkovkska to help free Russian military servicemen captured near Donetsk.
“The Russian servicemen who found themselves in the area where they were detained might not have been aware they were on the neighboring state’s territory,” Fedotov said in his letter to Lutkovska published in Moscow on Thursday, Aug. 28.
“It is known that analogous incidents involving the crossing of the Russian border by Ukrainian servicemen have also taken place, and they have been settled favorably. In this connection, I am asking you to provide assistance, within the framework of your mandate, in settling this incident and returning the Russian servicemen to their home country,” Fedotov said. It was reported earlier this week that Ukrainian security forces had captured a group of Russian military servicemen who had crossed the Ukrainian border. The Russian soldiers were detained in the Donetsk region and were later brought to a Kyiv pretrial detention facility, the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council reported.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had said earlier that the Russian paratroopers captured in Ukraine could have appeared on Ukrainian territory accidentally in patrolling the border area. He said he hoped there would be no problem with their return home.
