Moscow

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the two Americans captured in Ukraine while fighting against Russian forces had committed crimes.

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Peskov, while speaking to a US television channel, said that the two US soldiers were involved in "firing and shelling our military personnel" while declaring that "those crimes have to be investigated".

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The Kremlin spokesman said the prisoners don't fall under the Geneva Conventions while branding them as "soldiers of fortune". Peskov said they were not part of Ukraine's army.

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The two soldiers were identified as Alexander Drueke, 39 and Andy Huynh, 27, however, their whereabouts are unknown. Both men are believed to be from Alabama.

"The only thing that is clear is that they have committed crimes. They are not in the Ukrainian army. They are not subject to the Geneva Convention," Peskov told the US television network

A US State Department spokesperson had earlier confirmed that American officials had seen the photos of the two men.

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State Department spokesman Ned Price had urged Russia to treat the captured soldiers as "prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention".

"Prisoners of war must be afforded the treatment and protections commensurate with that status, including humane treatment and fundamental process and fair-trial guarantees," Price added.

Price informed that a third US citizen had also gone missing. Russia had earlier sentenced two Britons and a Moroccan in the separatist Donetsk court labelling them as mercenaries.

(With inputs from Agencies)

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