UKRAINE-CRISIS/RUSSIA-DETAINED Ukraine names detained Russian soldier, charges him with terrorism

Record ID: 145751

  • Title: UKRAINE-CRISIS/RUSSIA-DETAINED Ukraine names detained Russian soldier, charges him with terrorism
  • Date: 29th July 2015
  • Summary: KIEV, UKRAINE (JULY 29, 2015) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** UKRAINIAN SERVICEMAN IN CONFERENCE ROOM NEAR BOX WITH EXPLOSIVES VARIOUS OF WOODEN BOX WITH EXPLOSIVES SAID TO BE CONFISCATED FROM CAPTURED FIGHTER, VLADIMIR STARKOV EMBLEM AND SIGN ON WALL READING (Ukrainian): "SECURITY SERVICE OF UKRAINE" (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) CHIEF OF STATE BORDER SERVIC
  • Embargoed: 13th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVADFDCZF6Z0Q22SB6VO5NB52FM4
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Ukraine's state security service on Wednesday (July 29) named a Russian army major who was detained by Ukrainian servicemen at the weekend with a cargo of military equipment in eastern Ukraine and said he had been charged with terrorism.
    State security chief Vasyl Hrytsak told reporters that Vladimir Starkov, 37, had admitted immediately he was a serving soldier in the Russian armed forces after he was stopped in a truck at a checkpoint 22 km. (14 miles) outside the separatist-held city of Donetsk.
    "Senior (person) in the vehicle's cabin was a citizen of the Russian Federation, Starkov Vladimir Aleksandrovich, born in 1978, resident of Russia's Khabarovsk region who stated immediately during his detention that he was a staff serviceman of the Russian armed forces and started demanding state defence from us on behalf of the Russian Federation," Chief of State Border Service of Ukraine, Viktor Nazarenko said at a news conference.
    At the same conference Vasyl Hrytsak said that the detained is currently serving in the Russia's military.
    "De jure at the moment he serves in a military unit in the city of Novocherkassk in Rostov region in Russia and holds a position of the chief of the missile artillery service. His military rank is major, his personal number is F549345," he said, adding that according to the information provided by Starkov, Russian servicemen were offered triple salary for fighting on the side of the rebels.
    "The mechanism itself, if to go into detail, is the following: servicemen of the armed forces of the Russian Federation are offered to serve further in illegal armed groups of so-called DNR and LNR (Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics) promising - just think about it - a triple salary for their work. Those who agreed - I underline - are confiscated of all the documents that can identify them as citizens of the Russian Federation and servicemen - a passport, a military ID, and a badge," he said.
    Ukraine is likely to use the case to bolster its charges that Russia is continuing its involvement in the 15-month-long conflict and undermining a peace agreement worked out in Minsk, Belarus, in February.
    While supporting the separatists' cause, the Kremlin denies it is supplying them with arms and equipment and that its forces are engaged in the conflict in Ukraine's east.
    When Ukraine captured two Russian soldiers in May, Russia said the two men had quit their special forces unit to go to Ukraine of their own volition.
    In a video released by the SBU state security agency, Starkov said that after arriving for service in Russia's Rostov region he was ordered to go to Ukraine as a military adviser to the rebels.
    "One is not send on an official mission. There are no per diems paid for this. One is officially given a position at the 12th command unit in the city of Novocherkassk at some military unit. And when one arrives there, he is presented with the fact that he will not serve in Novocherkassk, he will serve in either LNR or DNR (Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics). Nothing is disclosed beforehand, everything related to Ukraine is made top secret," Starkov said.
    SBU officials say Starkov and another man who said he was a separatist fighter lost their way and drove towards Ukrainian forces manning the checkpoint.
    An SBU official told Reuters that Starkov had been accused of terrorism.
    A fragile ceasefire, though punctuated by occasional clashes, largely seems to be holding while the sides withdraw heavy weapons from a buffer zone. But each side accuses the other of failing to honour the Minsk agreements. More than 6,500 people have been killed in the conflict.
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