Russia Demands Release of 2 Alleged Servicemen Captured in Eastern Ukraine

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Russian Defense Ministry on Monday demanded that Ukraine stop the torture and release two of its nationals who were allegedly captured Sunday while fighting against Kiev troops in southeastern Ukraine.

"We've been informed about the show put on by Ukraine's General Staff and the SBU [Security Service of Ukraine] who have allegedly apprehended two Russian servicemen in the Lugansk region… Russian citizens Alexander Aleksandrov and Evgeny Erofeyev were not active-duty servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces at the time of their arrest on May 17 of this year," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.

Konashenkov admitted that the two had previously received military training with the Russian Armed Forces. He said the Association of Special Service Forces Veterans had contacted the Russian Defense Ministry asking it to put pressure on the Ukrainian military who, it said, had been torturing the wounded men to coerce them into making "useful confessions."

Ukraine and its Western allies have several times accused Russia of sending its regular troops and military equipment across the border to help anti-government forces there. The reports have not been independently verified.

Moscow has firmly denied these claims, although it previously admitted that some of its citizens were travelling to Ukraine of their own accord to fight alongside militias.