Russia has asked Sweden, Finland, France and the Baltic countries to conduct an investigation into the alleged participation of mercenaries from those countries in the conflicts in Ukraine.
Previously, the Italian newspaper "Djornale" announced that mercenaries from the Baltic countries, as well as Sweden, Finland and France are fighting within the so-called Azov Battalion in the east of Ukraine, a paramilitary group on the side of the Ukrainian army whose activities are financed and led by the Ukrainian oligarch and governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Igor Kolomoisky.
"If it turns out that the published allegations are true, it is a new confirmation of the participation of foreign extremists in the armed intra-Ukrainian conflict," the ministry said in a statement, RIA Novosti reports.
Last month, Russia issued an arrest warrant for Kolomoisky, as well as Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, on charges of organizing murders and kidnappings using prohibited methods.
Moscow believes that the Azov Battalion played a key role in the attack on the Russian embassy in Kiev in mid-June.
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