He noted that during the conversation, the detainees "expressed complete bewilderment in connection with the events unfolding around them."
Pletnev stressed that "each of the detainees told Russian diplomats with full confidence that the purpose of entering the republic was precisely transit passage."
The diplomat said that "on July 25, they were all supposed to fly from Minsk airport to Istanbul, and then to a third country," and the final destination "was one of the states in the Latin American region."
On July 29, the BELTA news agency reported that 33 Russians had been detained in Belarus. Later it became known that the detainees were suspected of preparing riots.
The press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov reported that the Russians detained in Belarus did not commit illegal actions and had all the necessary documents.
According to him, the detainees had tickets to Istanbul, they are employees of a private security company.
In turn, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that Belarus is open for interaction with Russia in a situation with the detention of a group of Russians.
Later, the chairman of the Investigative Committee of Belarus, Ivan Noskevich, said that "a measure of restraint in the form of detention" was chosen for 33 detained Russians.