Russia for over 2 months ignores Ukrainian diplomats in issue of detention of driver of international bus Chaban in Bryansk region
Over two months after the detention of Ukrainian citizen, the driver of the Vinnytsia-Moscow international bus, Oleh Chaban, in Bryansk region (Russia) the Russian side has not responded to any request of Ukraine to visit him by a Ukrainian consul.
"To date, we have not had a single response from the Russian side about granting permission to visit the Ukrainian citizen by the Consul," the official representative of the Department of the Consular Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Vasyl Kyrylych said at a briefing in Kyiv on Friday.
He said that the Embassy of Ukraine in the Russian Federation received an email on June 27 about the detention of Chaban in Bryansk region, while, according to his lawyer Yuriy Belous, his client was detained on May 19.
"This is a violation of the requirements and principles of international law. This is a violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, as well as the consular convention between Ukraine and the Russian Federation," Kyrylych said, adding that according to the conventions, notification of detention should be made within three days after detention.
He also spoke about the numerous appeals of the Ukrainian side to the law enforcement agencies of Bryansk region of the Russian Federation and to the Russian Foreign Ministry on this matter.
"On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs [of Ukraine], the Embassy applied for a third time to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs [of the Russian Federation], but this is no longer an appeal, but a note of protest demanding to explain the reasons for refusing the consul to hold a meeting with a Ukrainian citizen in the pre-trial detention center of the Russian Federation," Kyrylych said.
According to the lawyer of Chaban, his client is accused "of smuggling and illegal transportation and storage of weapons, which was found among passenger baggage, to which the driver Chaban himself had nothing to do. He did not receive it and he did not issue any documents and not received money for it, and did not contact anyone - neither with the sender, nor with the recipient."
