The Office of the President of Ukraine has reacted to the information about the release of militants from the Wagner private military group detained in Belarus to Russia.
The President's Office noted that the Ukrainian side expected a more legally correct and balanced decision from Belarus.
“Ukraine regrets the decision made by the Republic of Belarus to release a previously detained group of persons belonging to the Wagner private military group. The Republic of Belarus is an independent state with its own position, but the Ukrainian side expected a more legally correct and balanced decision," the report says.
“We consider such a decision, to put it mildly, unfair. It does not correspond to the spirit of relations between Ukraine and Belarus, based on the principles of respect and mutual assistance,” President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed.
On July 29, Belarusian law enforcement agencies detained 33 people who turned out to be mercenaries from Russia's Wagner private military group.
Ukraine asked Belarus to extradite 28 of the 33 detained individuals who, according to Kyiv, took part in the fighting in Donbas against Ukraine.
On August 5, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he was ready to cooperate with Ukraine on the issues of detained militants from the Wagner group.
On August 6, he invited the prosecutors general of Russia and Ukraine to Belarus to clarify the situation with the detained militants.
On August 14, 32 militants of the Wagner group, detained in Belarus at the end of July on suspicion of organizing mass riots, returned to Russia.