23 November 2016, 23:22 GMT
KIEV (Sputnik) — A Kiev court ruled on Monday to extend until May 11 the custody of Russian serviceman, Warrant Officer Maksim Odintsov, who was abducted last year by Ukraine's security operatives on the border with Crimea, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the court room.
"[The court rules] to extend the custody of Maksim Odintsov until May 11, 2017," a presiding judge announced.
In November 2016, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Odintsov and another Russian seviceman, Staff Sgt. Aleksander Baranov, were kidnapped and whisked across the border to the Mykolaiv region of Ukraine with an apparent goal to press criminal charges against them.
The Security Service of Ukraine said later that the detained Russian servicemen had previously served in the Ukrainian army and after Crimea’s reunification with Russia went to serve in the Russian army. Criminal proceedings have been initiated against them over their alleged desertion.
