The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine is deeply concerned by Russia’s treatment of the captured Ukrainian sailors.

“Rather than conduct psychiatric exams on Ukrainian sailors that violate their rights, Russia should release immediately all Ukrainian sailors and all Ukrainian political prisoners. We are deeply concerned by Russia’s treatment of the Ukrainians it has unjustly detained,” the Embassy of the United States in Ukraine posted on Twitter.

March 12, lawyer Nikolai Polozov informed that Russian investigators had ordered 11 captured Ukrainian sailors to undergo mental health assessment.

As reported, on November 25, 2018, Russian border ships fired on and seized three Ukrainian naval vessels moving from Odesa to Mariupol in the area of the Kerch Strait. Twenty-four Ukrainian sailors were captured. They were charged with illegally crossing Russia's border in the Black Sea. All captured sailors called themselves prisoners of war. Currently, they are held in Moscow’s remand prisons.

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