The Russian Embassy in Washington affirmed that it received no requests from the U.S. administration regarding two US mercenaries who have been captured in Ukraine.
"There were no requests to the embassy. I do not confirm receiving a request of this kind from the US side," Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said.
His remarks came after U.S. Department of State spokesperson Ned Price stated, on Tuesday, that the US administration had been "in touch with Russian authorities regarding U.S. citizens who may have been captured while fighting in Ukraine."
In the same vein, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby condemned Moscow for ‘even suggesting’ the death penalty for the two American citizens -- Alexander John-Robert Drueke and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh -- who fought for Ukraine against Russian troops.
"It's appalling that a public official in Russia would even suggest the death penalty for two American citizens that were in Ukraine," Kirby said.
“Whether they actually mean what they're saying here, and that this could be an outcome, that they could levy a death penalty against two Americans that were fighting in Ukraine, or that they just feel that it's a responsible thing for a major power to do, to talk about doing this..., either one of them is equally alarming," he affirmed.
On his part, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists that two Americans recently captured in Donbass were being accused of mercenarism and were therefore not subject to the Geneva Convention.
Peskov added that the actions of the captured Americans "should be investigated and they should be brought to justice." That said, he didn’t count out the possibility that the court would sentence them to capital punishment.
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