Media: Abduction of Ukrainian border guards planned by Russians for two months
The abduction of Ukrainian border guards was a Russian special operation, the Russians’ relevant conversations were recorded over the course of two months until the disappearance of Ukrainian border guards Bohdan Martson and Ihor Dziubak, Ukrayinska Pravda reports.
According to the news outlet’s sources, Ukrainians recorded the Russians’ conversations in which they were assigned the task of capturing two Ukrainian border guards.
“Precisely this fact gives the law enforcement agencies reason to believe that the Ukrainian border guards were captured intentionally, most likely for an exchange,” the material states.
Ukrayinska Pravda cites other sources to support this information too, noting that the capture of the Ukrainian border guards was a “Russian special operation”.
According to Oleh Slobodyan, spokesperson for the State Border Guard Service (SBGS), trampled grass was observed in two locations not far from Bohdan and Ihor’s car, which was close to the border, suggesting an ambush.
Slobodyan insists that Ihor and Bohdan were not far from the border, because they were carrying out assignments.
“The border is guarded around the clock. Martson and Dziubak are members of the division’s command. We can confirm that they were carrying out assignments, we have the relative monitoring records. They could do this at any time. But we do not know exactly what prompted them to be in that location,” Slobodyan said.
Communication with the hostages only takes place through the attorney hired by Martson’s family. Ihor’s family is convinced that an attorney will not be able to help in such a political case.
According to Martson’s wife Olha, the attorney has met with him three or four times, but has not said how the young men ended up in Russian territory.
“The attorney said that according to their rules, he has a right not to disclose information if we do not have Russian citizenship. For this reason he didn’t even tell mother, who is in Russia for a personal meeting, anything. Through the attorney, he asked to tell the border service and us not to think that they are traitors who went there of their own volition,” Olha said.
As reported, on the evening of 3 October, two Ukrainian border guards disappeared in the Sumy province close to the border with Russia. It later became known that they had been arrested in Russia. The SBGS reported that the Russian court has arrested them for two months, allegedly for crossing the border illegally and resisting law enforcement officers. The Ukrainian consul is not being given access to them. The SBGS considers it possible that the Ukrainian officers were arrested by force.