Russian must show conditions in which Ukrainian hostages are kept – SBU advisor
Ukraine has clearly shown the conditions in which the officers of the Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Russian Defense Ministry, Yevgeny Yerofeyev and Alexander Alexandrov, who were detained during an armed clash with the Ukrainian military in Luhansk region, are kept and Russia should do the shame and show the conditions in which Ukrainian hostages are held in Russia, Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) advisor Yuriy Tandyt has said.
"We require the Russian side to demonstrate what conditions of imprisonment our compatriots have in Russia. We demand they show our guys and to say when they'll be brought back to us," he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday.
He denied Russian media reports that the detained Russian officers were allegedly swapped, adding that they will face trial in Ukraine.
"The trial must be done here, in the territory of Ukraine. For us it is of great importance because these people committed crimes in the territory of our state," he said.
As reported, Alexandrov and Yerofeyev, members of Russian special forces, were captured near the village of Schastia while attempting to seize a strategic bridge on May 16. One Ukrainian serviceman was killed and three others injured in the clash. The Russians were also injured, one in the arm and the other in the leg. Alexandrov and Yerofeyev were transferred to the Defense Ministry's main clinical hospital in Kyiv and underwent surgery on May 29.
Ukrainian investigators officially notified Alexandrov and Yerofeyev on May 19 that they were suspected of having committed crimes under Ukrainian Criminal Code Article 258-3, their involvement in the terrorist activities of the so-called Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky District Court ruled on May 22 that the two would be held in detention pending trial.
The Russian Defense Ministry has said on several occasions that Alexandrov and Yerofeyev were not on military duty at the moment of their detention in Ukraine.
On July 28, Tandyt reported that the trial of the Russian officers will begin in September 2015.
