Kiev Court Extends Arrest of Russian Troop Abducted on Crimea's Border

A Kiev court on Tuesday extended the arrest of Russian serviceman Maksim Odintsov who had been abducted by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on the border with Crimea, until October 6, a Sputnik correspondent reported.

KIEV (Sputnik) — In November 2016, the Russian Defense Ministry said two contract servicemen Aleksander Baranov and Maksim Odintsov had been kidnapped and whisked across the border to the Mykolaiv region of Ukraine with an apparent goal to press criminal charges against them.

The SBU 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 and state treason.

The Crimean peninsula seceded from Ukraine and was reunified with Russia after more than 96 percent of local voters supported the move in a referendum in March 2014. Ukraine, as well as the European Union, the United States and their allies, did not recognize the move and consider the peninsula to be an occupied territory.

Russian authorities have repeatedly said that the Crimean residents decided to rejoin Russia in a democratic procedure and that the referendum was conducted in compliance with the international law.