MOSCOW, November 12. /TASS/. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has no information about South African citizens being asked to return home from the special military operation zone.

"I have no information whatsoever. This is the first I've heard of it," he told the Rossiya-1 TV channel.

Earlier, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office issued a statement saying that the South African government was working through diplomatic channels to secure the return of 17 South African men who found themselves surrounded in Donbass.

The South African authorities claim that their citizens were deceived into joining the ranks of mercenaries participating in hostilities in Ukraine under the pretext of lucrative employment contracts. Ramaphosa has ordered an investigation into the circumstances.