Russia suspends probe in Ukrainian sailors case
On Monday, an investigator of the Investigation Department of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation notified the lawyers of the Ukrainian military sailors of the procedural decision to suspend the preliminary investigation in this case.
“Today, an investigator of the FSB Investigation Department notified of the adopted procedural decision to suspend the preliminary investigation in the case of the Ukrainian military sailors,” lawyer Nikolai Polozov posted on Twitter.
He clarified that "the grounds and motives of the decision will become known after the lawyers receive a copy of the decision."
As reported, on November 25, 2018, Russian border guards fired on and seized three Ukrainian Navy ships, the Berdyansk, the Nikopol, and the Yany Kapu, heading from Odesa to Mariupol, near the Kerch Strait. In addition, their crew members, 24 Ukrainian sailors, were captured. Three of them were wounded. A Russian-controlled court in the occupied Crimea arrested the detained Ukrainian sailors on charges of alleged illegal border crossing.
On May 25, 2019, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ordered Russia to immediately release 24 seamen and three ships and allow them to return to Ukraine.
On September 7, 2019, Ukraine and Russia exchanged detainees in the 35-for-35 format. Twenty-four Ukrainian seamen returned home as part of the exchange.
On November 18, 2019, Russia returned the captured ships to Ukraine.
The last time the head of the Investigation Department of the FSB of Russia extended the term of preliminary investigation in the case of Ukrainian military sailors at the end of November — for two months until January 25.
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