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Moscow cares about worldwide legislation, not what the West thinks, its overseas minister has advised BBC
The destiny of British fighters captured in Ukraine and sentenced to dying as mercenaries is for the Donetsk Individuals’s Republic to resolve beneath worldwide legislation, and Russia doesn’t care how that appears “within the eyes of the West,” Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov advised UK state broadcaster BBC in an interview on Thursday, on the sidelines of the annual St. Petersburg Worldwide Financial Discussion board (SPIEF).
Two British nationals – Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin – had been amongst a trio of overseas fighters discovered responsible of being mercenaries by the Supreme Courtroom in Donetsk final week. They had been sentenced to dying, alongside Moroccan citizen Saadun Ibrahim.
When BBC’s Steve Rosenberg requested Lavrov about them on Thursday, the Russian overseas minister stated this was a matter for the Donetsk Individuals’s Republic (DPR), which Moscow acknowledges as an unbiased state and an ally.
“Within the eyes of the West, Russia is liable for the destiny of those individuals,” Rosenberg started, however Lavrov minimize him off.
I’m not in any respect within the ‘eyes of the West.’ I’m solely all for worldwide legislation, based on which mercenaries are usually not combatants. So what’s in your eyes doesn’t matter.
When Rosenberg protested that the 2 males weren’t mercenaries however had served within the Ukrainian army, Lavrov stated that was a matter for the court docket – one as authentic and as unbiased because the British courts.
Requested if the British authorities had reached out to Moscow concerning the destiny of Aslin and Pinner, Lavrov stated he hadn’t heard of such a request.
“They’re used to doing all the pieces in public. They started to declare that they had been involved concerning the destiny of their topics. I don’t know in the event that they contacted us or not. They need to speak to the DPR,” the overseas minister stated.
Lavrov additionally advised BBC that relations between Moscow and London had been dismal and described Britain as “a rustic that after once more tries to sacrifice the pursuits of its individuals for the ambitions of politicians, who solely take into consideration the following election and nothing else.”
British PM Boris Johnson, who simply survived a no-confidence vote inside his personal celebration, arrived in Kiev on Friday to assist Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
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