The Russian government said this Wednesday that the death sentence for three foreign fighters in the pro-Russian breakaway Donetsk Republic in eastern Ukraine would serve as an “example” for other “mercenaries” not to engage Russian forces.
Such a harsh sentence seems like a clear example for all the remaining mercenaries who are fighting on the side of Ukrainian neo-Nazis or intend to join them,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
The representative of Russia emphasized that convicts, two Britons and a Moroccan who fought on the side of the Ukrainian troops, committed “crimes against the civilian population of Donbass”.
Three prisoners – Aiden Aslin, Sean Pinner and Saaudun Brahim – were last week we are tried by the court of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic for mercenarism and terrorismafter entering the Mariupol region.
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Although the prisoners admitted some guilt at the trial, none of them admitted participation in hostilities in Ukraine as a mercenary.
Two Britons aged 28 and 48 have lived in Ukraine since 2018 and both served in the Ukrainian army before the start of the war.
According to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, the convicts are at risk of being shot, having a month to appeal the verdict.
