Russian Ambassador to Minsk announces details of meeting with detainees in Belarus

Moscow insists on the speedy release of Russian citizens detained near Minsk and on close cooperation with Belarusian law enforcement agencies in this case. On August 1, Russian Ambassador to Belarus Dmitry Mezentsev told reporters. We insist on the speedy release of our citizens and close cooperation with law enforcement agencies of Belarus and with lawyers, the Russian diplomat said. He also again emphasized that those claims and two-fold interpretations of the reasons why Russian citizens were on Belarusian territory are surprising and seem far-fetched and unreasonable. There are no facts to suggest that these people were ready to disturb public order. So far, the Belarusian side has not presented them, Mezentsev noted. In addition, he clarified that the meeting of consulate officers with the detainees took place from 22:00 on July 31 to 05:00 on August 1 and said that consulate officers asked the detainees all the questions they had to ask them. Note, as the news agency reported, earlier it became known that employees of the Russian diplomatic mission in Belarus held a meeting with citizens of the Russian Federation detained in a hotel near Minsk.