Russian State TV Says Foreign POWs Should Be Shot

A spokesman for the Moscow-backed self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) has told Russian state television that the foreigners taken prisoner in Ukraine are likely to be killed.

The comments by Eduard Basurin on the Russia-1 channel will deliver a blow to hopes for the release of Britons Aiden Aslin, 28 and Shaun Pinner, 48, who were charged with being foreign mercenaries after their capture in the southern city of Mariupol and given the death penalty.

There are also concerns about the fates of U.S. veterans Alex Drueke, 39, and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 28, both from Alabama, who volunteered to join the effort against Russia in Ukraine but have been captured.

When asked by 60 Minutes anchor Evgeny Popov about whether the "convicted foreign mercenaries" who had been captured would be shot, Basurin, a spokesman for the military command of the breakaway Ukrainian republic, replied, "Yes, I think so."

Basurin said that the situation was not about those who had come to Ukraine "to kill for money" but rather "about their political stance."

In front of a studio screen in which images of the Americans and Britons in captivity were shown, Basurin said that the majority of volunteers coming to fight alongside Kyiv's forces, were "nationalists of their own countries."

"For that reason we should be destroying them," he said. "We'll help the countries from which they came by destroying them because if they were to return they would do the same in their own country."

The clip was tweeted on Wednesday by journalist and Russia watcher Julia Davis who wrote: "Russia's 'DPR' puppet, Defense Spokesman Eduard Basurin opines that the foreign POWs captured in Ukraine will be shot.

"He says they're killing them as a favor to their home countries, because they're all 'nationalists' and would lead uprisings if they were allowed to return home."

Drueke's mother, Lois "Bunny" Drueke said in June that she had spoken with her son and that her captors were keen to negotiate his release.

Russia and its allies in Ukraine have accused the Americans and Britons of being mercenaries meaning they would not be protected as prisoners of war under the Geneva conventions.

The State Department said it had been in contact with Ukrainian and Russian authorities "regarding U.S. citizens who may have been captured by Russia's forces or proxies while fighting in Ukraine."

A spokesperson told Newsweek the the U.S. government generally liaises with with the International Committee of the Red Cross Central Tracing Agency about missing persons, but "does not speak publicly about specific cases."

"We call on Russia to live up to its international obligations to treat all individuals captured fighting with Ukraine's armed forces as prisoners of war," the statement said.

Meanwhile, DPR head Denis Pushilin would not give an indication as to when the executions of Britons Aslin and Pinner might take place, but did say appeals of their sentences had been filed.

Last week Russia's ambassador to the U.K. Andrei Kelin told Reuters that he was surprised London had not made more of an effort to get the men released.

The British Foreign Office said it was doing "everything we can to support the men."

Update 07/14/22, 10:00 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comments from the State Department.