KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th July, 2020) Kiev has launched consultations with Belarus to request extradition of Russian nationals, detained in Minsk over suspected subversion, for their alleged involvement in the armed conflict in Ukraine's breakaway east, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office said in a press release on Thursday.
Belarusian law enforcement reportedly detained a group of 33 Russian nationals, allegedly belonging to what Minsk called "private military company Wagner," on Wednesday. The extradition idea was flagged by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry earlier on Thursday after Belarus' top security chief Andrei Ravkov claimed that at least 14 of the detained Russians had been spotted in Ukraine's restive Donbas region.
"The Ukrainian side will petition to Belarus for the extradition of Russian militants of the Wagner private military company, suspected of war crimes in the territory of Donbas, with observance of all prescribed procedures," the press release read, adding that "consultations with the Belarusian side are currently underway."
The Ukrainian Presidency further claimed having enough evidence against the detained individuals, adding that "[their] actions should be thoroughly and duly investigated and perpetrators held liable."
The news was first reported by Belarus' state-run news agency Belta, which said that 33 individuals � reportedly, all Russian nationals � were arrested over suspected attempts to destabilize public order ahead of the upcoming presidential election.
Incumbent Belarusian President Aleksander Lukashenko, who is running against four other candidates for his sixth consecutive term, told the country's military to beware of provocations by foreign-deployed "professional fighters and bandits who undergo special training, mainly in private military companies around the world."
The Kremlin, in turn, insisted that Russia even had no such legal term as "private military company" and the government was not aware of any such functioning military enterprises.
