Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that the Geneva Conventions – a series of agreements on, among other things, international standards for the treatment of people captured during the war – would not apply to the two Americans believed to be have been captured by Russians or pro- Russian forces in Ukraine in recent weeks. Peskov’s comments come days after Russian media released a video showing the two men, 39-year-old Alexander Drucke and 27-year-old Andy Huyn.
Peskov told NBC News’s Keir Simmons that he considered the two men “lucky soldiers” who had not been drafted into the Ukrainian army – meaning he said Russia did not believe they were protected by the Geneva Conventions. Under pressure from Russia to know for sure that the two men were not members of the Ukrainian army, Peskov said the issue would be “investigated in a timely manner”.
He also claims that the two men, as a result of their alleged mercenary status, were involved in “illegal activities”, including shooting at and shooting at members of the Russian military.
“They must be held accountable for these crimes they have committed,” he said.
Concerns began to grow about the whereabouts of Huynh, a Marine, and Drueke, a veteran of the Iraq war, last week. Fellow soldiers told the British newspaper The Telegraph that the two had volunteered for some of the foreign fighters in the Ukrainian army when they disappeared.
US military veterans Andy Tai Ngoc Huyn and Alexander Drucke have left their homes in Alabama to serve with the Ukrainian army on the battlefield. They were reportedly captured by Russian forces during the fighting in eastern Ukraine in June 2022.
Earlier in June, a Moroccan and two British fighters who had been captured were sentenced to death by firing squad for fighting alongside Ukrainian forces. The three men were tried and convicted in a Russian-backed separatist court in Donetsk, one of the two major regions in Ukraine’s Donbass.
Asked if he could promise that Huin and Drucke would not face the same sentence, Peskov said he “cannot guarantee anything”.
“It depends on the investigation,” he said.
The US State Department said last week that it was also reviewing reports of a missing third American in Ukraine. A friend of the family identified the person as retired Marine Captain Grady Kurpasi, a 20-year U.S. Army veteran.
In an interview with Simmons, Peskov also spoke about Britney Greener, the American WNBA star who was arrested in Russia in February for allegedly wearing vape cartridges with cannabis oil. Since then, Griner’s pre-trial detention has been extended many times.
When Simmons said the US government was approaching Griner’s hostage-taking, Peskov said he “strongly disagrees” with the description.
“We can’t call her a hostage,” he said. “Why should we call her a hostage? She violated Russian law and is now being persecuted. It’s not about being a hostage.”
Chris Livesey contributed to the report.
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Victoria Albert is a senior news editor at CBS News. Contact her at victoria.albert@viacomcbs.com
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