The Consulate General of Ukraine in Naples provides consular assistance to Ukrainian citizen Yevhen Lavrenchuk, who was detained in Italy on December 17 at the request of the Russian Federation, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleh Nikolenko said.

"The court in Naples chose for the Ukrainian a measure of restraint in the form of detention pending consideration of the Russian extradition request. With the assistance of the Consulate General, the citizen was provided with a lawyer," Nikolenko told Interfax-Ukraine on Monday, January 3.

According to him, currently the consuls and the lawyer are interacting with Italian law enforcement officers to find out all the reasons for the detention of Yevhen Lavrenchuk and to protect his legitimate interests.

"On December 31, the consul visited our citizen. The conditions of his detention are acceptable, the state of health is satisfactory. The consuls keep in touch with the administration of the penitentiary institution and relatives and keep the case under special control," the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

Previously the Facebook group Free Yevhen Lavrenchuk! reported that Ukrainian theater director Yevhen Lavrenchuk has been in an Italian pretrial detention center since December 17 in connection with Russia's request for his extradition to the Russian Federation.

"According to their statement, Yevhen, while on the territory of Russia eight years ago, allegedly committed criminal act. Currently, the Italian side is studying the request submitted from Russia. The details of the case have not yet been disclosed, but it is known that Yevhen is accused of financial violations that he allegedly committed on the territory of the Russian Federation," a message on Facebook said.