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Kremlin hoping Russian woman Sapega detained in Minsk will be soon freed

The Kremlin spokesman underlined that he has no information about any law violations by her

MOSCOW, May 25. /TASS/. Moscow is hoping that Russian citizen Sofia Sapega detained in Minsk will be released shortly, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

"We come from the categoric need to ensure rights of the Russian citizen and consular access to her. We are hoping that she will be soon released by Belarusian authorities if of course she did not break any laws," he said.

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Peskov underlined that he has no information about any law violations by Sapega. "I am not aware of such information. Therefore, I make a reservation that if there are no legal challenges she is facing then we are hoping that will be released soon after all the necessary procedures," the Kremlin representative responded to the relevant question.

Peskov also emphasized that there are mechanisms of cooperation in place to resolve such issues. "There are Vienna Conventions and our Union State apart from that. It makes it possible to quickly address such incidents," he added.

A Vilnius-bound Ryanair flight that took off from Athens was forced to make an emergency landing at Minsk International Airport on Sunday after a reported bomb threat. The plane landed safely and no bomb was found on board. The Belarusian Investigative Committee opened criminal proceedings on the count of the deliberately false bomb threat.

Roman Protasevich, one of the co-founders of the Nexta Telegram channel, which was recognized as extremist in Belarus, was among the passengers. Protasevich, currently living in Lithuania and wanted in Belarus, was detained after the airliner had landed in the Belarusian capital. Later, reports emerged that Russian citizen Sofia Sapega was detained along with Protasevich.

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