Moscow Calls On Kiev To Stop Provocations, Disclose Whereabouts Of Russian Citizen Kosyak

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th October, 2021) Russia calls on Kiev to stop provocations in Donbas, to disclose the whereabouts of the detained Russian citizen Andrei Kosyak and to provide consular access to him, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

Kosyak, a Luhansk official in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC), was abducted on Wednesday near the contested town of Zolote in the Luhansk region. Ukraine said he was spying on its troops. Luhansk has denied the claim and accused Ukrainian forces of torturing the war prisoner. The LPR representative office in the JCCC terminated all contacts with Kiev on Thursday, and on Friday it also revoked all security guarantees previously given to work at the contact line and restricted the movement of patrols along a number of routes.

"We call on the Ukrainian side to reconsider its position, stop provocations on the contact line in Donbas, inform the whereabouts of Russian citizen A.V. Kosyak and provide Russian consular officers with access to him. We will continue to strive for the observance of the legal rights of the Russian citizen," the statement says.

Russia regards Kiev's actions as treacherous and provocative, it says.

"They undermine the process of peaceful settlement of the conflict in Donbas and run counter to Ukraine's obligations under a bilateral consular convention with Russia," it says.