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Russian ambassador summoned to Swedish Foreign Ministry, embassy confirms

On July 19, a 28-year-old Swedish national, who had previously served in the Kingdom's Air Force in Uppsala, had been killed near Kharkov

STOCKHOLM, August 1./TASS/. Russian Ambassador to Sweden Viktor Tatarintsev was on Monday summoned to the Swedish Foreign Ministry, embassy sources told TASS.

"We can confirm that the Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassador, but we cannot comment on the details on the conversation," the embassy said.

Dagens Nyheter daily reported earlier that parliamentary parties had demanded that the ambassador be summoned to the Foreign Ministry in connection with diplomats’ commentary on the death of a 28-year-old Swedish national who took part in fighting in Ukraine on the side of Ukrainian troops. The Foreign Ministry said at first that it had no such plans, but on Monday it confirmed plans to summon a representative of the Russian embassy.

In a commentary published on July 25 on Facebook (a social media site banned in Russia since it is owned by Meta Corporation deemed extremist by Russia’s authorities), the Russian Embassy to Sweden expressed regrets that the media in the Kingdom were trying to "craft a positive and highly moral image of this ordinary mercenary" in their reports.

The Russian embassy noted that the fact that he, as a foreign national, joined "the army that has been fighting against civilians for eight years" makes him a "criminal under international law".

Russian diplomats warned that Swedish citizens who remain in the ranks of the Ukrainian armed forces "are very likely to face trial in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, which will not hesitate to sentence all mercenaries to long prison terms or even capital punishment".

The media in Sweden reported on July 19 that a 28-year-old Swedish national, who had previously served in the Kingdom's Air Force in Uppsala, had been killed near Kharkov. According to unconfirmed reports, several hundred Swedes headed to Ukraine to take part in combat actions.

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