CNN
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Russian authorities say they’ve detained two Colombian males suspected of combating for the Ukrainian navy – a stunning twist within the weeks-long case of their disappearance since mid-July.
The final time Cielo Imbachí heard from her husband was greater than 40 days in the past, whereas he was on a layover within the Venezuelan capital Caracas. On the time, Jose Aron Medina was on his manner again to Colombia after spending round 9 months in Ukraine, she says.
He by no means made it residence.
On Friday, Medina and his good friend, fellow Colombian Alexander Ante, appeared in a video launched by the Russian Federal Safety Service, which accused them each of “taking part in hostilities on the facet of Ukraine in opposition to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation as mercenaries.”
The Colombians have been carrying “paperwork confirming their unlawful actions,” mentioned the FSB assertion, and clothes with the insignia of the Ukrainian Carpathian Sich battalion.
State TV channel Russia 1 reported that Ante and Medina have been in Venezuela once they have been detained and extradited to Russia. Their detention in Moscow was ordered by town’s Lefortovsky District Courtroom on August 28 and they’re being held till October 22, the courtroom’s press service advised state information company TASS.
The 2 males’s detention and obvious extradition spotlight the sturdy financial and navy ties Russia has with Venezuela whereas additionally serving as a warning to international fighters, estimated to quantity in the 1000’s, who flocked to assist Ukraine within the warfare effort.
Reached for remark by CNN, Ukraine’s Worldwide Legion mentioned it doesn’t present any details about potential, present, future, or former servicemen. It mentioned it’s reaching out “to different items the place Colombians are serving,” including that the “entire story sounds bizarre and unlikely.”
Within the meantime, Imbachí says she acquired no info from any of the international locations concerned.
“I nonetheless haven’t been in a position to converse with him: the final time I spoke with my husband was that fateful day, 18th of July… from then nothing. And we simply noticed the movies of him in a Moscow courtroom,” Imbachí advised CNN.
“Venezuela simply took them and deported them to Russia, and we don’t perceive the explanation why they have been deported,” she mentioned.
Venezuela’s international minister didn’t reply to CNN’s request for remark.
A Colombian authorities supply advised CNN its international ministry is ready for official experiences from the consulates in Caracas and Moscow to grasp how finest to help the pair. The ministry additionally advised CNN that it has requested and is awaiting extra info from Moscow by means of diplomatic channels.
Imbachí and Medina, 36, have a nine-year-old daughter and a son from her earlier marriage. Each males, Medina and Ante, come from the western Colombian metropolis of Popayán, they usually reside shut to one another, she mentioned.
Imbachí mentioned her husband left for Ukraine final November, becoming a member of Ante who was already there. Medina determined to return residence this July. She mentioned he flew from Warsaw in Poland to Madrid, Spain, after which onwards to Venezuela. His vacation spot was Popayán.
It stays unclear why the 2 males traveled by means of Venezuela, as there are a number of direct flight choices between Spain and Colombia. Touring by means of Venezuela is troublesome attributable to sanctions imposed by the USA in opposition to the Latin American nation.
Imbachí thinks her husband went by way of Caracas because it was the most affordable choice. “Flights from Spain to Colombia are actually costly, whereas I believe Venezuela was cheaper.” She doesn’t understand how they have been planning to get from Caracas to Popayán.
A missing-person flyer from Colombia’s lawyer common, with photographs of the 2 males, mentioned that their final identified location was a Venezuelan airport on July 18 the place they have been seen “sporting camouflaged clothes from the Ukrainian Military.”
Imbachí and Colombian congressman Jose Uscategui went to the Venezuelan embassy in Colombia’s capital Bogota on July 26 to “make a proper request for the secure return of those people to their residence,” in accordance with a tweet from Uscategui.
CNN is trying to contact Ante’s household.
Venezuela has grown nearer to Russia during the last a number of years as Nicolas Maduro seeks Russia’s help to shore up his embattled presidency. The 2 international locations have signed a number of bilateral agreements, together with an extradition treaty.
CNN’s Karol Suarez and Mau Torres contributed reporting
