"Taking into consideration the alarming fact [the detention] and the ongoing election campaign in Belarus, we have reached agreement with the Ukrainian side to intensify cooperation between border agencies and to strengthen the border regime to prevent destabilization in the two countries," the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry added that it had asked the Ukrainian Embassy to provide information about the detained Russians with Ukrainian citizenship in order to assess the reasons of their staying in the republic.
"In view of the confirmed information about some of the detained persons' participation in combat activities on the territory of Ukraine's Donetsk and Lugansk regions, their Ukrainian origin and citizenship, we have asked Petro Vryblevskyi to provide relevant information that could be used for comprehensive analysis and assessment of the reasons of their staying in Belarus," the Foreign Ministry said.
The Foreign Ministry released its statement soon after completing talks with Russian Ambassador Dmitry Mezentsev and Ukraine's Acting Ambassador Petro Vryblevskyi. The conversations focused on the over 30 Russians detained near Minsk on Wednesday and suspected of preparing terrorist attacks. Minsk believes the detained individuals are members of the Wagner Group paramilitary organization. Some of them hold Ukrainian citizenship and are believed to have taken part in the armed conflict in Donbass.
