KYIV, Aug 5 - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday he hoped Belarus would hand over suspected Russian mercenaries to Ukraine for future prosecution, Reuters reported.
"I hope that the suspects in terrorist activities on the territory of Ukraine will be handed over to us for criminal prosecution in accordance with current international legal documents," Zelenskiy said on Twitter.
Belarusian security forces last week detained a group of suspected Russian mercenaries near Minsk.
Ukrainian authorities last week ask Belarus to extradite 28 people, including nine Ukrainian citizens, whom Kyiv suspects of participating in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russia has demanded the release of the contractors for a private firm, saying they only were in Belarus because they missed a connecting flight to another country.
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia's Security Council, sharply raised the stakes in the dispute Wednesday, saying that the Belarusian leadership has sacrificed bilateral ties for election tricks, according to the AP.
The detention of the military group underscores growing security concerns in the region amid fears that Russia may be planning an incursion into Belarus similar what has been done since 2014 in Crimea and eastern regions of Ukraine.
Fighting between Ukraine's armed forces and the separatists in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk has killed some 13,200 people since April 2014.
The Vagner Group is a Russian paramilitary organization believed to be run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, an influential Russian businessman close to President Vladimir Putin. Its fighters have turned up in conflicts in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, and Africa.
The chief of the Belarusian Security Council, Andrey Raukou, said on July 30 that "upwards of up to 200 militants" remain at large in Belarus and efforts to locate them continue.
The August 9 presidential vote is shaping up to be a tough race for incumbent Alyaksandr Lukashenka, an authoritarian leader who has been in power since 1994. (rt/ez)
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