Two US veterans arrested in Ukraine after volunteering to fight the Russian military are outside the Geneva Convention and may face the death penalty.
“We are talking about hired people who threatened the lives of service personnel. And not only us, but DPR and LPR service personnel,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who told the Kremlin. He added that he did not know the whereabouts of the two missing Americans.
Alexander Druke and Andy Finn were killed earlier this month in battle with Kharkiv. According to an interview with Russian state media, two men appear to have been detained in Ukraine by Russian-backed troops.
Druek, 39, is a former US military officer from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, who previously served two tours in Iraq. Originally from Orange County, California, Huin, 27, is a former US Marine. Both men are Alabama residents and his family says they haven’t been heard from since June 8.
According to his family, the man went to Ukraine as a volunteer to fight against the Russian army. The men who fought them say they were captured on June 9.
“They participated in the shooting and shelling of our military personnel. They were putting their lives in danger,” Peskov said, adding that they should be held accountable for the crimes they committed.
“The crime must be investigated,” he added.
Peskoff told reporters in Moscow that he would not rule out the death penalty for two prisoners of war if he were tried in separatist territory.
Russia has not carried out the death penalty, but the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, which Moscow has granted independence, have.
The Kremlin says “mercenaries” are not protected by the Geneva Convention, which outlines how prisoners of war should be treated.
A Kremlin spokesman said the crimes committed by the two men could not be identified and what happened to them is pending investigation.
It is unclear if Druke and Huin have joined the International Ukrainian Legion, a military unit for foreign volunteers that began after Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
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Source: Metro
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