Lawyer Valentyn Rybin will defend the interests of Russian citizen, Alexander Alexandrov, at court in Kyiv, in place of Yuriy Hrabovsky, who has disappeared.

Rybin became Alexandrov's lawyer at a session of Kyiv's Holosiyivskiy District Court, where Alexandrov and second Russian citizen, Yevgeny Yerofeyev, are standing trial on Monday, an Interfax correspondent reports. Rybin will provide assistance as a lawyer on the basis of a contract which was concluded with Alexandrov's family.

Rybin asked the court to give him some time, until April 11, to study the case files.

Both defendants, Alexandrov and Yerofeyev, were brought in for the court session on Monday.

Additionally, Yerofeyev's lawyer Oksana Sokolovska provided the court with documents which substantiate the need to provide her with protection which she asked for at the previous court session.