“It is disgusting that a civil servant in Russia would even propose the death penalty for two American citizens who were in Ukraine. And we will continue to try to find out what we can do about it,” he said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov said Monday that the Geneva Convention – a charter that defines the treatment of soldiers and civilians in time of war, including a ban on the execution of prisoners of war – does not apply to two detainees. Peshkov said the death penalty could not be ruled out, but that it was a court decision and not the Kremlin. Kirby said he would not try to get into the minds of Peshkov or Vladimir Putin, but added that whether the prospect of the death penalty was real or hypothetical was a matter of concern. “Either way, it’s just as worrying, or they really mean what they’re saying here, and that could be the result, that they could impose the death penalty on two Americans in Ukraine,” he said. “Or that they just feel they have a responsibility to make a big difference, to talk about doing this as a signal to the President of the United States and to the American people. Either of them is just as concerned.” Two American volunteers fighting for Ukraine have been arrested by Russian-backed separatists in Donetsk after being arrested last week, according to Russian state media. Alexander John-Robert Drueke, 39, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, of Hartselle, Alabama, were interviewed by the Russian channel RT at a detention center in the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic ( DPR) on Friday, according to a report published on RT. The two Americans went missing on June 9 during a battle north of Kharkov and there were fears that they might have been captured by Russian forces, according to their families and a fellow citizen. On Friday, short videos appeared on pro-Russian channels and on social media showing the men being held in an unknown location. It was not clear then who was holding them. A State Department spokesman told CNN on Friday that “they have seen the photos and videos of these two American citizens who were allegedly arrested by Russian military forces in Ukraine” and “closely monitored the situation.” “We are in contact with the Ukrainian authorities, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the families themselves,” they continued. “Due to confidentiality criteria, we have no further comments on these cases.” Separately, an edited video of more than 50 minutes was released on Saturday in which Drueke and Huynh were interviewed by HelmCast, a pro-Russian Serbian nationalist YouTube channel. In the interview, a man is heard behind the camera revealing the location of their interview when he says, “here in Donetsk” during a question to Drueke. Drueke was also asked in the interview if he had any objections to how he was treated after his arrest and revealed that he had been beaten. CNN chooses not to broadcast videos of American detainees because they show men talking under pressure. The Drueke and Huynh detention center is a potentially disturbing development. Russia has a moratorium on the death penalty, while Donetsk is using firing squads to execute convicted detainees, according to Russian state media RIA Novosti.
