Charged for Terrorism: Kiev Captures Alleged Russian Soldiers

Kiev has announced that a pair of allegedly Russian soldiers captured by the Ukrainian Security Service will be charged for terrorism. The two men facing terrorism charges are being detained in Shchastya, a small town near the Russian border.

Ukrainian security chief, Vitaliy Naida, stated that the pair are linked to Russia’s foreign military intelligence organization, GRU. In an interview with the BBC, Naida stated that

“We have battle dress uniform, we have automatic rifles that are produced only in the Russian Federation only for Special Forces’ use…we have already started a criminal case for a terrorist act.”

Nadia also claimed that the fighters are part of a 220-strong group of GRU members deployed to the border in early May. One of the men to be charged identified himself as Alexander Alexandrov and confessed on video to be part of a Russian special forces led espionage operation.

However, according to Ukraine Today, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov insists that the men were not acting as servicemen at the time they were captured and has demanded their immediate release.

“The citizens of Russia, Alexander Alexandrov and Yevgeniy Yerofeyev, captured by the SBU (Ukrainian Security Service) in Luhansk region, at the time of their arrest on May 17 were not servicemen of the Russian armed forces.”

Konashenkov went on to say that

“We checked the information of the Ukrainian side: these guys had previously served in one of the units of the Russian armed forces and had a military training,”

For some time now, Kiev has insisted that Russia is aiding the conflict in the East. However, Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, who was recently described as a ‘bully’ by Ben Carson, staunchly deny that this is true. The only admission from Russia to date is that there’s a possibility that independent volunteers fighters could be involved.

According to a Harvard news blog, the disagreement between these two countries can be traced back to 2013 when the Ukrainian government declined to sign a trade and political agreement that involved the nation adhering to more European values and principles.

Matters have been heating up recently after three Baltic states requested that NATO provide more troops, fearing Russia’s so-called “hybrid warfare.”

Do you think Russia’s providing military aid to the conflict in Ukraine and if so, should Alexandrov and Yerofeyev be charged for terrorism? Let us know in the comments.

[Photo by John Moore/Getty Images]