Colombia’s government asked Russia on Thursday for “information” about three citizens of the Latin American country who are being held in Moscow and are accused of acting as mercenaries in the war in Ukraine in the ranks of the forces of Kiev, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Colombian diplomacy asked the Russian Foreign Ministry “for information on their legal status, the current location of Colombian citizens and their state of health,” according to the text.

A Moscow court announced late last month that it had ordered the pretrial detention of two Colombian nationals accused of being mercenaries who fought against Russian armed forces on Ukrainian territory.

The Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, however, that it is three persons, Alexander Ade, Jose Aaron Medina Aranda and Miguel Angel Cardenas.

Moscow, which invaded the territory of neighboring Ukraine in February 2022, invariably describes foreign volunteers who fight in the ranks of the Ukrainian armed forces as “mercenaries”.

Under the Russian criminal code, “mercenary action” carries heavy penalties, although Russia has several private military companies, the best known of which is the Wagner Group.

In July, the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo reported that Alexander Ade and Jose Aaron Medina Aranda were arrested in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, by the police of that country, an ally of Russia. It has since been unclear what happened to them.

According to a family friend of Mr Ade’s quoted by the paper, they were wearing Ukrainian army uniforms when they were arrested in Venezuela.