Russia does not know whereabouts of two American “mercenaries” captured in Ukraine-Kremlin


MOSCOW, June 21 (Reuters) – The Kremlin on Tuesday said it did not know the whereabouts of two Americans captured in fighting in eastern Ukraine, calling them mercenaries who could face the death penalty in the Donbass provinces.

Alexander Drueke and Andy Huynh, aged 39 and 27 respectively, disappeared while fighting near Kharkiv in the Ukrainian ranks.

Russian state media later released images of the two men claiming they had been captured by pro-Russian forces.

The Interfax news agency reported that the two Americans were in the self-declared breakaway republic of Donetsk (DPR).

Reuters was unable to immediately verify the information and a DPR spokesman declined to comment.

Two weeks ago, Britons Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin and Moroccan Brahim Saadoun were sentenced to death by a DPR court, found guilty of “mercenary activities and actions intended to seize power and overthrow the order Constitution of the DPR”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters it was not ruled out that the two captured Americans, from Alabama, would also be sentenced to death if tried in separatist territory.

“We cannot rule anything out because these are court decisions. We never comment on them and have no right to interfere in court decisions,” he said.

Although Russia does not apply the death penalty, the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, whose independence is recognized only by Moscow, have included it in their legal texts.

The Kremlin claims that as “mercenaries”, these captured men do not benefit from the protection provided by the Geneva Convention.

(Reporting by Reuters, French version Laetitia Volga, editing by Kate Entringer)




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