Russian military correspondent Semyon Pegov, released from the Belarusian Center for Isolation of Offenders, called the Ukrainian Embassy in Minsk and reported about the detained Ukrainian journalists.
He made a call to the embassy on the way to the airport from the car of the Russian diplomatic mission to notify Ukrainian diplomats about the citizens of this country who were in the detention center, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Pegov emphasized that the Ukrainian embassy does not know about the detainees, because they are not formally charged, but are being interrogated informally.
“Two guys are in the detention center. One is named Sorcerer, the second is called Anton, unfortunately, I don’t remember the last name. They are on the first floor in a cell at the end of the corridor on the right. One is from the Donetsk region, and the other I don’t remember where, but he was recently located and lived in Minsk... There was no food there for a day, the guys were also recorded on camera and interrogated. This was not an official interrogation, they were interrogated, everyone was spoken to differently. I think that they could use your help,” Pegov said.
After the call, he emphasized that despite his position regarding Donbass, he provided assistance to Ukrainian journalists out of solidarity.
“Everyone knows perfectly well my position in the conflict between Donetsk and Kiev, but as the guys in Donetsk themselves emphasized, no one is fighting against the Ukrainian people, against Ukrainian citizens - they are fighting against nationalists and radicals, militants and those forces that support them. Ordinary people should not suffer, because we are one way or another two fraternal peoples,” the Russian journalist explained his support for his Ukrainian colleagues.
Pegov was previously detained in Minsk during protests for lack of accreditation, but was released after the intervention of Russian diplomats.