Russia Claims Credible Evidence Exists of Russians Being Held in Ukraine

GENEVA (Sputnik) – Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said last month that 13 people had been released from a secret Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) facility in Kharkiv. In a published letter addressed to Ukraine's military prosecutor, the watchdogs urged him to address the issue of secret detention units where at least five other people, including two Russians, continue to be detained.

"Law enforcement agencies in Ukraine deny the existence of these institutions. Nonetheless, I have received the relatives of these citizens who told me credible information that these people are indeed held in closed institutions that can be called prisons," Moskalkova told RIA Novosti.

The ombudswoman quoted a letter received from her Ukrainian counterpart Valeriya Lutkovska claiming that the Russian citizens "are not held in any of the detention centers and jails in Ukraine."

"Where else can they be held? Only in unofficial private institutions," Moskalkova maintained. "It is very important that the international community will after all respond to public appeals to examine these facts."

Russian Foreign Ministry Human Rights Ombudsman Konstantin Dolgov estimated that several hundred Russian citizens may be detained in Ukraine’s secret prisons, a practice he classified as a "felony and a gross violation of international law."