Russian POW in Ukraine to sue the Russian Defense Ministry
Sergeant Alexander Alexandrov, who was detained in the east of Ukraine during fighting between the separatists and Ukrainian armed forces, told the newspaper Novaya Gazeta that he has agreed to sue the Russian Defense Ministry for illegally dismissing him from military duty.
“I don’t think it will be difficult to prove that I am an active military serviceman. I can file requests and get all the necessary documentation,” said Alexandrov.
The sergeant also told Novaya Gazeta that with the help of his lawyer he plans to change the category of his crime from terrorism charges to subversion charges. “I was not a terrorist, since I was carrying out orders. I am a military serviceman until my contract is officially up,” he claimed.
Alexandrov said he supposes that the Presidential decree classifying information on military deaths in peacetime, signed into effect by Vladimir Putin on May 28, has to do with his arrest and the arrest of his colleague in arms, Evgeny Erofeev, in Ukraine.
Sergeant Alexandrov, interviewed by Novaya Gazeta
novayagazeta
The Novaya Gazeta correspondent did not have a chance to meet with Erofeev, as he has been transferred from a hospital to a pre-trial detention center. His lawyer Oksana Sokolovskaya said that Erofeev was dismissed from the hospital prematurely because he refused to comply with the investigation.
The State Security Services of Ukraine have said that Erofeev’s health at the moment is satisfactory, and have called Sokolovskaya an ‘agent of Moscow.’ ‘But Erofeev has, of course, hit rock bottom,’ emphasized the State Security Services representative.
On May 17, Ukrainian officials announced the arrest of two men in separatist-held eastern Ukraine. They were captured after being wounded during military operations. Kiev says they work for Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (the army’s foreign military intelligence division, also known as the GRU). Alexandrov and Erofeev have confirmed this.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense has confirmed that Erofeev and Alexandrov are Russian citizens. According to officials, they formerly served in the Russian military, but were no longer on active duty at the time of their capture. Moscow has demanded that Ukrainian officials set the men free.
A Russian consulate representative has visited the men in the hospital, but on June 1 it was reported that the Ukrainian State Security Services have banned his visits for the next couple of months.