The Americans Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 27, went missing this month while fighting near Kharkov. Russian state media later showed video interviews with the couple, saying they had been arrested by Russian-backed forces. read more Citing an unknown source, the Interfax news agency reported that the men were in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in eastern Ukraine. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Britain’s Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin and Moroccan citizen Brahim Saadoun were sentenced to death by an LDJ court this month after being arrested for fighting with the Ukrainian army. read more Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov told a news conference that Moscow could not rule out that the two arrested men, both from Alabama, would also be sentenced to death if tried in a separatist area. Although Russia does not carry out the death penalty, the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, whose independence is recognized only by Moscow, have it in their statutes. “We are talking about mercenaries who threatened the lives of our service personnel. And not just ours, but also the DPR and LPR service personnel.” The Kremlin says that as “mercenaries”, men are not protected by the Geneva Conventions, which describe how prisoners of war should be treated. read more Washington pushed back. “Obviously we strongly disagree and we have made our position clear to the Russian government,” a senior State Department official told reporters when asked about Peshkov’s comments. Asked if Americans could be tried in the GDR and sentenced to death, Peshkov said: “We can not rule out anything because these are court decisions. We never comment on them and we have no right to interfere in court decisions.” Reuters could not immediately confirm Interfax’s report on the Americans’ whereabouts. A DPR spokesman declined to comment immediately. Relatives of the captured Americans say they are not mercenaries and traveled to Ukraine in April as volunteers to help repel Russian forces. Alexander Drueke’s mother, Lois, said: “Alex did not go to the military. He went as a politician with military training.” Huynh and Drueke last spoke to relatives on June 8 to say they were on a mission and would be out of contact for a day or two. He was afraid that they were arrested after they did not return to the base. Family members said they later discovered the men were in the Kharkiv region, which borders the Donetsk region to the north. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Additional reports by Humeyra Pamuk in Washington, DC. Edited by: Kevin Liffey, William Maclean Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
