The death sentence of three foreign fighters in the pro-Russian breakaway republic of Donetsk in eastern Ukrainewill serve as an example for other “soldiers of fortune,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zajárova said on Wednesday.
“Such a harsh sentence seems to be a clear example to all the other ‘soldiers of fortune’ fighting on the side of the neo-Nazis ukrainians or they just intend to join them,” Zajárova was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency.
The spokeswoman insisted that the condemned – two Britons and a Moroccan – had committed “crimes against the civilian population of Donbas”.
For his part, the president of the Duma (Russian lower house), Viacheslav Volodin, considered it necessary to maintain the death penalty in the separatist republic of Donetsk, “especially in times of war.”
Volodin noted that those who “order civilians to be shot and those who carry out these orders must understand that they are committing crimes that carry the harshest punishment.”
The spokesman for KremlinDmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that London had not approached Moscow to discuss the issue of its citizens sentenced to death in Donetsk.
“Everything depends on the request from London and I am convinced that the Russian side is ready to listen to it,” he said.
The United Kingdom assured, in turn, that it will do “whatever is necessary” to secure the release of its nationals sentenced to death.
According to London, the British government “is working hard” to ensure that Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner are released after the “false” trial to which they were subjected. (EFE)