KYIV - Ukrainian Security Service chief Vasyl Hrytsak does not rule out that two Russian citizens, Yevgeny Yerofeyev and Alexander Alexandrov, who were captured in Ukraine in May 2015, could be swapped for Ukrainian citizens detained in Russia.
Speaking to journalists in Kyiv on Friday, Hrytsak said criminal investigations in relation to Yerofeyev and Alexandrov had been completed, and “a court will decide on their fates.”
“Following the trial, a decision on their future will be made. As concerns a possible swap, I do not rule out such a possibility, but this is beyond my purview,” Hrytsak said.
Ukrainian special services captured Alexandrov and Yerofeyev not far from the town of Shchastya in the Luhansk region on May 16.
Ukraine identified Yerofeyev and Alexandrov as Russian military servicemen. The Russian Defense Ministry said in reply that, while the two were Russian citizens, they had not been active military servicemen at the moment of their detention in Ukraine.
A Kyiv court has ruled to arrest the Russians.
Yuriy Tandit, an advisor to the SBU chief, said on July 28 that Alexandrov and Yerofeyev’s trial in Ukraine would start in September.
Russian military and political officials have claimed repeatedly that there are no Russian military servicemen in Ukraine.
