LifeNews journalists, Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saychenko, who were detained in Ukraine about a week ago and released on Saturday evening, claim to have spotted several mercenaries at Kramatorsk airfield in the eastern Donetsk region. "There were lots of mercenaries at the airfield. There were people dressed in uniforms that aren’t typical of Ukraine. They talked to no one and walked into the headquarters in silence. We still can’t figure out who those people might be," Sidyakin told a press conference on Sunday.
The captured journalists didn’t hear English spoken, but saw; "people equipped in Western troops’ fashion".
"Their behavior, the way the held themselves were odd. as was the fact that they didn’t speak to anyone," Sidyakin said.
Saychenko said he believed the Ukrainian army was disorganized.
"After staying inside the Ukrainian army for a while, we understood how soldiers felt, how disorganized they were. Many soldiers serving on conscription, including those who guarded us, complained that they should long have been demobilized, and they also complained that the food they were given was of poor quality," he said.
Released LifeNews journalists say were held in damp earth hole in Ukraine
Hours after their release, LifeNews TV reporters Marat Saychenko and Oleg Sidyakin revealed the appalling conditions in which they had been held for nearly a week after being detained by Ukrainian law enforcers.
During the detention they said they were journalists, they had all the necessary papers, but no one paid attention. Saychenko and Sidyakin were tied, put inside a helicopter and taken to a Ukrainian army camp.
There, they were "kept in a damp earth hole for two days, their hands tied, their legs wrapped in scotch tape, bags on their faces scotch-taped around their necks, making it hard to breath," the journalists said, LifeNews reports.
After that, the reporters were put into a metal box and driven to some place. It was a long journey. Finally, they found themselves in an interrogation room at a Ukrainian Security Service department and only then the bags were removed from their heads.
During the following five days, they were kept at "some building in Kiev" guarded by two Alfa special task policemen.
While in captivity in Kiev, the journalists were subject to huge psychological pressure. Law enforces intimidated them with threats to charge them with illegal arms trafficking and even threatened to kill them, Marat said.
On Sunday, Chechnya’s head Ramzan Kadyrov wrote on his Instagram page that Sydiakin and Saychenko had been freed. He said his representatives had been in talks with officials in Kiev for several days to promote the journalists’ release.
"When they put us into a car and we heard Chechen being spoken, I relaxed as I realized who had intervened," Saychenko said.
LifeNews journalists released and delivered to Grozny by plane
Two Russian LifeNews journalists detained in Ukraine on May 18 have been released and delivered to the Chechen capital of Grozny by plane, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov wrote on his page in the Instagram social network. "Russian journalists Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saichenko are free! Their plane is heading from Kiev to Grozny!" the Chechen president wrote.
On behalf of the people of Chechnya, Kadyrov thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for saving the journalists from captivity.
"Marat and Oleg will have a rest in Grozny until morning. Their relatives, family and colleagues will be able to meet them in Moscow tomorrow," Kadyrov stressed, TASS reports.
Ukraine’s National Guard detained two LifeNews journalists, Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saichenko, near Kramatorsk, the Donetsk region, last Sunday on May 18 when they contacted their colleagues for the last time before the detention.
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