Colombian Foreign Ministry announces creation of working group on mercenaries in Ukraine

Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo has announced the creation of a working group with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the situation with mercenaries in Ukraine. He said in an interview with RIA Novosti on November 15.

"Yes, we touched on the topic, of course, this topic worries us, we talked about the prisoners, we agreed with Minister Lavrov that we will create a group that will study these cases," the agency quoted him as saying.

According to Murillo, Colombia is concerned about the participation of a number of its citizens in the conflict in Ukraine. In this regard, he advised citizens not to do so.

"We would not like to have among our citizens those who provide this kind of services in another country," the head of the Colombian ministry added.

Earlier, on November 5, a captured soldier of the Armed forces of Ukraine Volodymyr Nikolenko reported that a large number of wounded mercenaries from Colombia were brought to the military hospital in Konstantinovka in the Kiev-controlled part of the Donetsk People's Republic.

Before that, on September 12, the Colombian Foreign Ministry requested information from Russia about three mercenaries from the Latin American country, who were detained in late August. The ministry also demanded through diplomatic channels to stop recruiting Colombian citizens to participate in armed conflicts abroad.

In addition, on September 9, the Ministry of Defense of Colombia reported that the country will cooperate with foreign countries in investigating the activities of mercenaries. At the same time, Colombian authorities plan to combat the recruitment of military personnel to be sent abroad.

The special operation to protect Donbass, the start of which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was taken against the backdrop of the aggravated situation in the region.