MOSCOW. June 26 (Interfax) - The Russian Prosecutor General's Office sees no reason for the release of Ukrainian citizens Oleh Sentsov, a film producer, and Oleksandr Kolchenko, an environmentalist, who were detained and taken into custody in Crimea.
"There are currently no grounds for dropping the charges against Oleh Sentsov and Oleksandr Kolchenko," Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Viktor Grin said in a letter posted on the website of the Russian presidential human rights council.
Mikhail Fedotov, chairman of the Russian presidential human rights council, had asked Grin to probe the circumstances of the two men's detention in Crimea.
Russian law enforcement officials detained Sentsov in Crimea on May 11. On May 19, it was reported that he had been transferred to a detention facility in Moscow.
The Russian Federal Security Service on May 30 reported on the detention in Crimea of members of a terrorist group associated with Right Sector, who were suspected of preparing terrorist attacks in some cities in Crimea. Sentsov, Hennadiy Afanasyev, Alexei Chirniy, and Kolchenko were taken into custody and will soon be charged.
According to the Federal Security Service, the detainees prepared "to carry out explosions near the Eternal Flame memorial and the Lenin monument in Simferopol in the early hours of May 9 using improvised explosive devices and set fire to the office of the party United Russia in Simferopol on April 14, 2014 and April 18, 2014."
The Federal Security Service reported that the suspects "are giving evidence regarding the involvement of members of Right Sector in the organization of terrorist attacks on the territory of Crimea."
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on June 3 gave the Russian embassy in Kyiv a note demanding a meeting with Sentsov.