Ukraine says it will prosecute captured Russian soldiers for terrorist acts

The Ukrainians seized on the capture of the two Russians, both wounded, to support their accusations of direct Russian involvement in the separatist conflict despite a ceasefire signed in February. Russia denies active military involvement. In a video posted online by the Ukrainian interior ministry, one of the prisoners gave his name as Alexander Alexandrov. He said he had been on a spying mission in Ukraine as part of a 14-member special forces group from the Russian town of Togliatti.

The leadership of the Russian Federation will have difficulty saying that these guys just got lost.

Ukranian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko

TASS news agency later quoted Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov as saying the two prisoners had served in the Russian armed forces but were no longer Russian soldiers on May 17, the day they were captured. The capture and possible prosecution of the two Russians and the potential embarrassment for Russia’s Vladimir Putin come as the United States and its European Union allies press Moscow to fully implement the Minsk peace accords.

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