Two US Mercenaries Arrested In Ukraine, Kremlin Can't Guarantee Not To Be Sentenced To Death

Juru bicara Kremlin Dimitry Peskov. (Wikimedia Commons/Kremlin.ru/Press Service of the President of Russia)

JAKARTA - Russia cannot guarantee that two US mercenaries caught in Ukraine will not be sentenced to death, as was the death penalty for two British mercenaries and a Moroccan.

Two Americans who traveled to Ukraine as volunteer fighters against Russia briefly disappeared during the kick-off, leaving families worried for their fate last week.

Alexander Drueke, 39, from Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Andy Huynh, 27, from Hartselle, Alabama, last had contact with their families on June 8 and did not return from a mission around the Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine. Later, the fate of the two was revealed after it was announced that they had been caught in Ukraine.

"I can't guarantee anything. It depends on the investigation," he said when asked if he could guarantee US prisoners of war would not face the same fate as Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner and Moroccan national Brahim Saadoun previously sentenced, by a court in the Donetsk People's Republic, cited from TASS June 21.

The Daily Telegraph last week reported that two former US soldiers Alexander Drueke and Andy Huynh were arrested near Kharkov. Meanwhile, the US State Department said on June 16 it was ready to engage with Russia regarding US citizens taking part in the war in Ukraine.

US citizens missing in Ukraine Andy Huynh (left) and Alexander Drueke. (Twitter/@uasupport999)

As previously reported, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said two US citizens caught in Ukraine, who were mercenaries, committed crimes that would be investigated and were not subject to the Geneva Conventions.

Two Americans who traveled to Ukraine as volunteer fighters against Russia have been missing for the past week, leaving their families worried for their fate last week.

Alexander Drueke, 39, from Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Andy Huynh, 27, from Hartselle, Alabama, last had contact with their families on June 8 and did not return from a mission around the Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine.

"They are mercenaries, and they are involved in illegal activities on Ukrainian territory. They are involved in shooting and shooting our military personnel. They endanger their lives and they must be held accountable for the crimes they have committed," Peskov said in an interview with the channel US MSNBC news.

"And they must be held accountable for the crimes they committed. Those crimes must be investigated. The only thing that is clear is that they have committed crimes. They are not Ukrainian soldiers. They are not subject to the Geneva Conventions."

None of the mercenaries the West sent to Ukraine to fight for the nationalist regime will enjoy the rights of the fighters under international humanitarian law, the Geneva Conventions, said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov.

"I would like to make an official statement that none of the mercenaries sent by the West to Ukraine to fight for the nationalist regime in Kiev, can be considered as fighters according to international humanitarian law or enjoy prisoner-of-war (POW) status," Konashenkov stressed.

He warned that all foreign mercenaries caught and detained in Ukraine would be brought to justice on criminal charges.

Peskov's comments are the first official acknowledgment that the two men have been detained and are being investigated. However, Peskov would not reveal where the people were being held.