The United Kingdom is politicizing and escalating the situation around the death of a British mercenary in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Monday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th July, 2022) The United Kingdom is politicizing and escalating the situation around the death of a British mercenary in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Monday.
Earlier, DPR Ombudswoman Daria Morozova said that British mercenary Paul Johnson Anthony Dominic Urey, who was held captive in the DPR, had died on July 10 due to illness and a depressed state "due to indifference to his fate in his homeland."
Russia notes "the inappropriate desire of London to politicize and escalate the situation around the British citizen P. Urey, who died in the Donetsk People's Republic," Zakharova said.
"At the same time, according to the information of the DPR authorities, he was by no means a civilian, but was a professional soldier who had previously served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, after which he led military operations and trained military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In April of this year, Urey was detained by representatives of the DPR people's militia while trying to break through the checkpoint," she said.
London ignored the possibility of negotiating the return of its compatriot as part of the prisoner exchange procedure, she said.
"From the very beginning of this whole story, we repeatedly pointed out to the British that the conversation about the fate of Paul Urey should be conducted with the competent authorities of the DPR, which is a sovereign and independent state," the statement says.
"London, however, ignored this, in particular, ignored the possibility of negotiating the return of its compatriot as part of the prisoner exchange procedure," she said.
The UK did not seek help from the ICRC to provide medical supplies to Urey, while he was provided with the necessary medical care in the DPR, where he was convicted of mercenary activity, Zakharova said.
The reasoning of British politicians shows their indifference to the fate of their compatriots, she said.
"The arguments of politicians like Elizabeth Truss about the non-recognition of the people's republics are nothing more than excuses showing how indifferent the British government is to the fate of its compatriots, whom it shamelessly uses in its own interests," she said.
"Now London is trying to use this plot and the human tragedy associated with it to inflate a media scandal and 'score points' in the context of the election campaign for the post of leader of the UK Conservative Party," Zakharova added.
