- Title: Ukraine detains two Russian soldiers near Crimean border
- Date: 22nd November 2016
- Summary: KIEV, UKRAINE (NOVEMBER 22, 2016) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** NEWS CONFERENCE BY CHIEF OF UKRAINIAN SECURITY SERVICE, VASYL HRYTSAK MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) CHIEF OF UKRAINIAN SECURITY SERVICE, VASYL HRYTSAK, SAYING: "Indeed, the security service counter-intelligence held a special operation during which two former servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who betrayed the oath of allegiance to the Ukrainian people after the annexation of Crimea and took the enemy's side, were detained." PASSPORT OF DETAINED RUSSIAN SOLDIER, MAXIM ODINTSOV, ON SCREEN (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) CHIEF OF UKRAINIAN SECURITY SERVICE, VASYL HRYTSAK, SAYING: "Detention of the criminals took place at the checkpoint 'Chongar' on the administrative border with - I emphasise - annexed Crimea." REPORTERS LISTENING NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS
- Embargoed: 7th December 2016 14:33
- Keywords: Ukraine Russia Crimea deserters detention SBU
- Location: CHONGAR, MYKOLAYIV AND KIEV, UKRAINE
- City: CHONGAR, MYKOLAYIV AND KIEV, UKRAINE
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA00359J1WZR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on Tuesday (November 22) released footage of detention of two Russian soldiers near the border with Crimea, saying the men were deserters from the Ukrainian army.
Ukraine claimed they were detained at checkpoint 'Chongar' on the side of Ukrainian-controlled territory while Russia says they were seized in Crimea.
Russia's Defence Ministry said SBU had detained the two soldiers at around 1 p.m. Moscow time on Sunday (November 20) and had taken them to Ukraine the Russian news agencies reported.
It demanded the two men's swift return to Russia, naming them as Maxim Odintsov and Alexander Baranov.
On footage released by SBU, Baranov confessed that he betrayed Ukraine and switched to the Russian side after the annexation of Crimean peninsula in 2014.
"After 2014, (I) signed a contract with the defence ministry of the Russian Federation and took an oath."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Ukraine's detention of two Russian soldiers was "a provocation."
Moscow and Kiev have been locked in conflict since Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula and an uprising by pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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