Moscow says US mercenaries detained in Ukraine are not subject to Geneva Accords

Sputnik – Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said US mercenaries held captive in Ukraine could not trust the security of the Geneva Convention.

The press secretary called the two Americans captured during the Ukrainian conflict “soldiers of fortune” and stressed that they were involved in illegal activities in Ukraine and shot dead the Russian army.

“I will not explain the legal side of their captivity. One thing is clear: they have committed crimes. They are not members of the Ukrainian military. The Geneva Convention does not apply to them,” he explained.

“They threatened their lives and they must be held accountable for the crimes they committed,” Peskov concluded.

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The U.S. State Department has confirmed that two U.S. citizens captured in Ukraine were involved in the war with Kiev.

Alexander John-Robert Drook and Andy Toy told RT TV how they were captured after being abandoned by their Ukrainian commanders in the Battle of Donbass. They spoke to the Russian media from a detention center in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).

According to Russian data, 6,956 foreigners from 64 countries have arrived in Ukraine since February to fight in Kiev. About 1,956 of them were killed and 1,779 fled the country, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday.

In early June, the DPR Supreme Court sentenced two British citizens and a Moroccan man to death for fighting alongside Ukrainian militants.

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