Semen Semenchenko, the founder and honorary command officer of the Donbas squadron, has said that the Ukrainian nationals that have been detained in Georgia on suspicion of possession of weapons arrived in that country by air and were not going to attend any political rallies. According to him, the weapons were planted as fake evidence on them.
In a video address to the followers on his page on Facebook, Semenchenko mentioned the names of those detained. They are Ukrainian nationals Dmytro Kuraghin, Roland Melia, Oleksandr Novikov, Yuriy Korostelyov, Ihor Orlenko, Serhiy Klochko, and Georgian national Luka Chkhetia. Some of them had been involved in combat actions in the east of Ukraine as members of the Donbas squadron. The Ukrainian MP said the detained men are now being kept inside the building of the National Police of Georgia in Tbilisi.
“These people have been detained on charges of possession of weapons… They arrived here from [November] 28 to 30 to meet with their brothers-in-arms, with whom they fought together in the east [of Ukraine] and whom they haven’t seen for a few years… They met here every day with their brothers-in-arms who fought for Ukraine,” Semenchenko said.
The MP said that he arrived in Georgia as an observer for the elections on Nov. 28 together with his wife and has stayed at a different hotel.
He said the people detained could not have weapons because “they arrived here by plane and, thus, they were going to leave by plane as well.” Therefore, the MP believes the weapons had been planted as fake evidence on them.
“They need no weapons because they didn’t arrive here for some political rallies… I think the weapons were planted and this is what they have told to their lawyers. Because, a) they don’t need those weapons, b) they couldn’t get the weapons from anywhere since they arrived by plane, and c) I think it is a provocation, a provocation by people who wish the Georgian opposition here not to be peaceful and to be involved in drilling Ukrainian militants so that they would seize the power,” Semenchenko said.
As earlier reported, the Georgian Interior Ministry said on Dec. 2, that seven Ukrainian citizens had been detained in Tbilisi’s Alliance Hotel. The ministry said the detention was based on Article 236 of the Georgian Criminal Code, which concerns the illegal procurement and possession of firearms, ammunition, and explosives.
The detainees include Luka Chkhetia, a former Georgian soldier who fought for the Ukrainian nationalist volunteer squadron Donbas. The family said Chkhetia planned to join in the protest of ex-Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili’ former ruling party, the United National Movement, in Tbilisi on Dec. 3.
