Mykhailo Vlasyuk and Yuriy Bezyazychny once again stated they were prisoners of war

Investigators of Russia's FSB, the federal security service have interrogated Ukrainian sailors Mykhailo Vlasyuk and Yuriy Bezyazychny. Lawyer Nikolai Polozov posted this on Facebook.

'Yesterday (February 4, - 112 International), investigative actions against Mykhailo Vlasyuk took place; today, the actions took place against Yuriy Bezyazychny. The investigators of Russia's FSB Chief Department conducted interrogations, as Vlasyuk and Bezyazychny once again stated that they were prisoners of war. The defense filed a number of statements and appeals, including those requesting phone calls and meeting the relatives', the lawyer wrote. According to him, over the past 2.5 months, the investigators never allowed a single call or a visit.

On November 25, the coast guard ships of the Russian Navy attacked the ships of the Ukrainian Navy, which have been carrying out a scheduled transition from Odesa port to Mariupol port in the Sea of Azov. Ukrainian ships were rejected passage via the Kerch Strait, Russian coast guards opened aimed fire on them.

All 24 sailors on board were captured and delivered to Moscow – 21 of them were delivered to Lefortovo remand center, another - to the hospital of Matrosskaya Tishina prison.

On December 3, the Russian prosecutors officially accused Ukrainian sailors with the 'illegal crossing of the state border' during the attack in the Kerch Strait.

Facing an extension of the sentence term, Ukrainian POWs detained in the Kerch Strait refused to testify in Lefortovo court. Sailors were distributed into six groups, four people in each. On January 15, 2019 Moscow's Lefortovo district court decided to keep 20 Ukrainian sailors in remand until April 24. On January 16, the court extended the detention term for another four sailors.