Eva Deschamps / June 22, 2022
Moscow considers that Alexander Drueke and Andy Huynh are mercenaries involved in illegal activities and therefore not protected by the Geneva Conventions.
The United States called it appalling that Russia is raising the possibility of imposing the death penalty on two Americans captured by Russia in Ukraine, and confirmed that a second U.S. national had been killed in action in that country.
Washington considers that Russia should treat them humanely as any prisoner of war, in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.
The U.S. diplomats argue that the Russian authorities had not given them any information directly about these two captured fighters.
As far as I know, we are not officially aware of anything. So one of our requests is: 'who are you holding, if you're holding anybody, and where are they? And if you're holding someone, you're obligated to treat them with respect to Geneva, a senior U.S. official insisted.