“According to reliable sources, after border guards detained the officer of Russia’s Armed Forces, Russian commanders have instructed the leaders of terrorist organizations, the so-called "DPR" and "LPR" to do everything possible to capture Ukrainian officers to further exchange them for Starkov," said Chairman of the State Security Service of Ukraine Vasyl Grytsak during his joint press conference with Chairman of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Viktor Nazarenko today, an UNIAN correspondent reports.

Also, according to the head of the SBU, attempts were made to bribe Ukrainian border guards so that they released Major Starkov immediately after his arrest, but the officers did not succumb to provocations.

UNIAN earlier reported that the accounts of Starkov’s relatives on social networks have been “cleansed” by the Russian authorities following the officer’s arrest in Ukrainian Donbas.