Ukraine court orders arrest of two suspected Russian soldiers:
A Kyiv court has ordered two suspected Russian soldiers who were captured in eastern Ukraine to be placed in pretrial detention until July 19.
The ruling on May 22 comes after Yevgeny Yerofeyev and Aleksandr Aleksandrov were charged with involvement in "terrorist activity."
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was taking the "necessary measures" to free the two men.
He also said Russia's attempts to contact the prisoners through diplomatic means have failed so far.
In video published on the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta’s website on May 22, Yerofeyev and Aleksandrov repeated assertions that they were on active duty with the Russian military in eastern Ukraine when they were captured on May 16.
Moscow says the two men were no longer employed by the state when they were captured.
Russia has constantly denied accusations by Kyiv and the West that it is providing weapons, training, and personnel to rebels in eastern Ukraine who are involved in a conflict that has killed more than 6,100 people since April 2014. (AFP, Interfax, AP)
Donetsk People's Republic: Taste the feeling!
Russians captured in Ukraine say they were just following military orders:
Two suspected Russian soldiers captured in eastern Ukraine have said they were on a mission for Russia's military when they were seized, contradicting Moscow's claim that the two men were not active servicemen.
In video published on May 22 on the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta's website, one of the men, Aleksandr Aleksandrov, said his capture by Ukrainian forces over the weekend demonstrates that Russian military personnel were operating in areas of eastern Ukraine where Moscow-backed separatists are fighting Kyiv's forces.
"It's just not in [Russian authorities'] interest to admit it," Aleksandrov said from a hospital bed in Kyiv, where he has been held since he and another Russian man, Yevgeny Yerofeyev, were captured by the Ukrainian military.
The Kremlin denies accusations by Kyiv and the West that it is providing weapons, training, and personnel to rebels in eastern Ukraine who are involved in a conflict that has killed more than 6,100 people since April 2014.
Russia's Defense Ministry says Aleksandrov and Yerofeyev have served in the military but were not employed by the state at the time of their capture.
Speaking to Novaya Gazeta, Yerofeyev said he had not yet left the Russian military.
Both men have been charged with involvement in "terrorist activity," and a Kyiv court on May 22 ordered them to be placed in pretrial detention until July 19.
In their interviews with Novaya Gazeta, both Aleksandrov and Yerofeyev denied that they were sent to Ukraine to engage in combat, saying they were involved in reconnaissance missions.
"I didn't carry out any special mission to destroy or capture anything [in eastern Ukraine]," Yerofeyev said. "I didn't kill anyone. There wasn't even an order to shoot. There was only an order to return fire in self-defense."
The Ukrainian military has said that the two men were wounded in a firefight in eastern Ukraine, and that they have been treated for their injuries.
While Russia denies the two men are active servicemen, Moscow has called on Ukraine to free them.
Aleksandrov teared up when his interviewer informed him that his relatives appeared on Russian television saying that he had ended his military service before leaving for Ukraine.
"Why are they turning their backs on me?" Novaya Gazeta quoted him as saying. "There was an order. I gave my oath to the motherland.... There was an order and, as a military man, I carried it out."
Novaya Gazeta noted that readers should keep in mind that claims made by Aleksandrov and Yerofeyev, and their motivations for making them, may have been impacted by their captivity.
Both men complained that they have yet to receive visits from Russian diplomats.
"I understand that they have rejected me as a military serviceman," Yerofeyev was quoted as saying. "But I am still a citizen of my country. And I'd like to see one representative [of Russia] here."
Maria Zakharova, an official with Russia's Foreign Ministry, said in a May 22 interview with the Moscow-based Ekho Mosvky radio station that Ukrainian officials had not allowed Russian diplomats to visit the men. (Novaya Gazeta, Reuters, AFP)
Moscow says EU Riga summit missed chance to "bridge gap":
Russia says the two-day EU Eastern Partnership summit in Riga has lost "another opportunity to make a step toward bridging a widening gap on the continent."
The Foreign Ministry said on May 22 that the Eastern Partnership Program, which includes Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Belarus, "essentially remains an over-ideologized geopolitical project, whose implementation is negatively affected by certain EU member states with their historical anti-Russian complexes."
The statement added that the EU "once again muttered its inadequate position on Crimea," the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in March 2014.
In their joint declaration, the summit participants "acknowledge the European aspirations and European choice of the partners concerned."
It also states that the EU "reaffirms its position against the illegal annexation" of Crimea. (TASS, Interfax)
This ends our live blogging for May 22. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.