The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is investigating reports that Ukrainian citizens are allegedly involved in the Syrian conflict, but has found no evidence to support such claims so far.
"The SBU will check yesterday's statements by some politicians and foreign diplomats about the possible involvement of Ukrainian citizens in the armed conflict in Syria. We are already conducting such activities, but we haven't found any confirmation of these reports," the security service said.
At the same time, the Security Service said they established that supporters of Hizb ut-Tahrir, the international Islamic political organization, were actively campaigning for "helping Syria" among the Muslim community of Crimea, especially among young people.
"This is illegal. The SBU responds to such cases," the security service said.
The Security Service of Ukraine will take every measure to prevent the illegal participation of Ukrainian citizens in military operations on the territory of other states, the SBU said.
As reported, Syria's Ambassador to Ukraine Mohamed Said Akil stated that Ukrainian citizens are fighting on the side of anti-government forces in Syria.
"There are representatives of 83 countries, including Ukraine, among the terrorists," the diplomat said at a press conference in Kyiv, when asked whether recent reports saying that Ukrainian citizens, including Crimean Tatars, were involved in military operations in Syria were trustworthy.
The diplomat, however, did not mention the number of Ukrainians involved in the Syrian conflict. He said that the militants usually burn their dead, and it is difficult to collect such statistics.
Earlier, Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, MP Mustafa Jemilev said that he had been informed that several Crimean Tatars had gone to Syria to fight on the opposition's side.
Jemilev stressed that the Mejlis disapproved of their departure for Syria and called on Crimean Tatars not to travel to the country.
He added that one should not speak about mass involvement of Ukrainian Tatars with the Syrian conflicts, as only several people had gone, of their own free will.
The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine refuted the Syrian ambassador's statement to Ukraine Mohamed Said Akil on the alleged participation of Ukrainian citizens in the Syrian conflict.
"Ukraine has many times declared its support for the settlement of the conflict in Syrian by exclusively political and diplomatic means. The Foreign ministry thinks that Akil's statement was unacceptable and groundless, as well as inconsistent with the character of relations between the two states. We think that such a statement must be confirmed by official trustworthy facts, which are absent in this case," the ministry's Information Policy Department said.
