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Three Ukrainian soldiers detained in Crimea

Ukrainian soldiers said the purpose of their visit was "utterly peaceful"

SIMFEROPOL, September 7. /TASS/. Russian border guards have detained in Crimea three service members of the 79th brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. They are suspected of illegally crossing Russia’s state border. During the detention, the Ukrainian service members had no IDs on them, a Russian agency said.

The incident occurred on the technological causeway across Sivash Lake. The detained Ukrainian soldiers said the purpose of their visit was "utterly peaceful."

"The fact objectively demonstrates the pointlessness of keeping the Ukrainian military units on the border with Crimea and the absence of order on the Ukrainian border, which increases the responsibility of the Russian state border authorities and other security agencies in charge of the border security in Russia’s Crimean Federal District," the state border department of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said.

Russian border guards decided to hold the Ukrainian service members administratively liable for violating the regime of Russia’s state border and to transfer the detainees to the Ukrainian side. The Ukrainian paratroopers have expressed the wish to return to Ukraine as soon as possible voicing concern that severe punishment awaits them there.