Two servicemen detained near Crimean border might theoretically be put on hostage swap list

17:47, 22.11.2016 1 min read

The servicemen detained recently by the Ukrainian Security Service near the border with Crimea might theoretically be included in hostage exchange lists, Security Service chief Vasyl Hrytsak said.

"It's hard for me to answer. Everything can happen in theory. But their future will be determined first by the investigator, in line with the Criminal Procedure Code [...] and then by a court," Hrytsak said at a news briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday, when asked whether these people could be included in the exchange lists.

At the same time, Hrytsak confirmed that the servicemen, suspected by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies of desertion, produced Russian passports once they had been detained.

Some Russian Federation Council members had suggested earlier that the Ukrainian Security Service abducted the two Russian servicemen on the Crimean border so as to exchange them for Ukrainian citizens.