The Office for investigation of crimes related to the use of prohibited ways and methods of warfare of the Investigative Committee’s Head Office during an investigation into abduction of Russian military servants Alexander Baranov and Maksim Odintsov has found that Ukrainina citizens Roman Tkachenko and Sergei Pavlenko were involved in the crime. Depending on their roles they have been charged in absentia with complicity in abduction under Part 5 of Article 33 and Part, items “a” and “g” of Article 126 of the RF Penal Code.
It has been revealed that the two men served in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Pavlenko was the head of the vehicle depot of the support regiment of the Ivan Kozhedub Air Forces University of Kharkov and Tkachenko – the head of the postal course of the graduate school of the same university. They conspired in 2016 with officers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to abduct military servants of Russia who had had Ukrainian citizenship and had served in Ukrainian Armed Forces. Considering their previous experience of service in the university Tkachenko and Pavlenko were to find former students who had not received their degrees and persuade them to come to Ukraine.
The two men started corresponding with Russian military servants via social networking sites and told them that they were able to help them to get the degrees.
Later Tkachenko convinced Russian military savants to arrive at the border between Russia and Ukraine and cross it arguing that he was only able to give the documents in Ukraine. He was aware that other accomplices were going to abduct the Russians. After Baranov and Odintsov crossed the border, Ukrainian military servants held them, forced to sit in a vehicle and took them to Ukraine. At present the two men are kept in a pre-trial prison.
Investigative and search operations are underway to find out all the circumstances surrounding the crimes and to identify other people involved in the crime.
Acting Head of media Relations S.L. Petrenko
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