"You know that diplomatic channels usually protect the legitimate legal interests of our citizens abroad, that's why the Kremlin does not do this in its daily routine, but on the other hand, there should be no doubt, of course, that everything that is prescribed by law, I mean measures to protect interests, they will be implemented," Peskov said in response to a question about how the Kremlin sees solutions to this problem.
Answering a question about whether Ageev's case was "evidence" of Russian military presence in eastern Ukraine times to the upcoming meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump, Peskov noted that he does not think that "this issue has anything to do with the meeting with Trump" and added that the Russian Defense Ministry had the most information on the subject.
On Tuesday, the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's republic (LPR) announced that two of its fighters were killed and four more were captured by a Ukrainian special operations team in the Lugansk region on June 24. Many Ukrainian media outlets and the BBC Russian service spread information that Viktor Ageev, supposedly a Russian military serviceman, had been among the captured militants.
On Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Ageev had never served in Russia's armed forces under contract and was discharged from draft duty last year.
