JAKARTA - The Kremlin said it did not know the location of two American mercenaries captured while fighting in eastern Ukraine, although reports had previously circulated of their whereabouts.
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.
Citing unnamed sources, the Interfax news agency reported, the men were in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) in eastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a phone call with reporters Moscow could not rule out that the two people arrested could face the death penalty if tried in separatist territory.
Although Russia does not carry out the death penalty, the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, whose independence only Moscow recognizes, have it in their statute books.
"We are talking about mercenaries who threaten the lives of our personnel. And not only us, but also members of the DPR and LPR," he said.
Asked if they could be tried in the DPR and sentenced to death, Peskov said: "We cannot exclude anything because this is a court decision. We never comment on them and have no right to interfere in court decisions."
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.
As previously reported, Dmitry Peskov said two US citizens caught in Ukraine, were mercenaries, committed crimes that would be investigated and were not subject to the Geneva Conventions.
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