"Are on the territory of Russia": Minsk handed over 32 detained Russians to Moscow

The Belarusian authorities handed over to the Russian side 32 citizens of the Russian Federation, who were detained at the end of July on the territory of the republic. This is stated in a message on the website of the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia.

“In accordance with the petition of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Krasnova AND.The. of 08/05/2020 in the manner prescribed by the Minsk Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Cases of 01/22/1993, thirty-two citizens of the Russian Federation who were previously detained on the territory of Belarus have crossed the State border of the Russian Federation and are currently are on the territory of Russia ", - confirmed in the department.

They added that another detainee, who also has Belarusian citizenship, remained on the territory of the republic.

The Prosecutor General's Office emphasized that the transfer of these persons was carried out in strict accordance with the norms of international law and national legislation of Russia and Belarus, as well as in close cooperation between the prosecution authorities of the countries.

"The competent authorities of the Russian Federation will continue to deal with the situation around these citizens," the department added.

According to a TASS agency source, the citizens returned to Russia on August 14 by land.

“Today 32 Russians have been returned to Russia by land route through the Russian-Belarusian border,” the source said.

The Russian Ambassador to Minsk Dmitry Mezentsev, commenting on the information about the transfer of Russians to Moscow, also stressed that when carrying out the procedure, the parties strictly observed the norms of the law.

“The professional interaction of the prosecution authorities of our countries helped to ensure the successful provision of this legal procedure. It is important and significant that the Russians have returned to their native land! ”The ambassador said.

He added that "the statement of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office provides detailed information on the grounds for the return of 32 of our fellow citizens."

Meanwhile, the office of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed regret over the decision of Minsk. Earlier, the office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine sent a request to Belarus for the extradition of 28 detained citizens of the Russian Federation. According to Ukrainian investigators, they allegedly took part in hostilities in Donbass.

“Ukraine regrets the decision of the Republic of Belarus to hand over to Russia a previously detained group of persons belonging to the private military company Wagner. Of course, the Republic of Belarus is an independent state with its own position, but the Ukrainian side expected a more legally correct and balanced decision, ”the Ukrainian leader's office said.

Circumstances of the detention of Russians in Belarus

On July 29, Belarusian media reported that 32 Russian citizens were detained near Minsk, and another was detained in the south of the republic. According to the local news agency BelTA, they were allegedly fighters of Wagner's foreign private military company. In another material of the agency it was said that the Belarusian side allegedly received information about the arrival in the country of "more than 200 militants to destabilize the situation during the election campaign." 

After some time, the Russian Embassy officially received a notice from the Belarusian Foreign Ministry about the detention of the Russians.

A criminal case was opened against the detainees for the preparation of mass riots. Minsk also handed over to Kiev a list of detainees for "checking" for their possible participation in hostilities in the Donbass and the presence of Ukrainian citizenship.

Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that the Russians were in transit in Belarus, did not commit any illegal actions and had all the necessary documents.

On August 7, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko had a telephone conversation with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, during which the parties expressed their desire to sort out the situation "in the most serious way."

On August 8, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted that the situation with the detention of Russian citizens turned out to be a provocation from a third state.

“The information space was shocked by the story of the detained 33 citizens of Russia in Belarus for a week, at least. All this was brought up almost by a special operation of the Russian side to send some specially trained people to destabilize our neighboring country. And what turned out to be? It turned out to be a provocation of a third state, as it is now becoming clear on the basis of facts, ”said a representative of the foreign ministry.

The publication "Komsomolskaya Pravda", citing a source in the Russian special services, reported that the detention of the Russians was a provocation by the Ukrainian special services. As noted by the publication, "a comprehensive audit of Russian law enforcement agencies shows that those who decided to earn extra money on protection abroad were simply used in the dark." The publication emphasized that the SBU "managed to create a fake project, which involved 180 Russian citizens." The materials on the special operation were transferred to the Investigative Committee of Russia.