Law enforcement in Prague have detained a Russian national, Alexander Franchetti, who is reasonably suspected of direct participation in the occupation of the Crimean peninsula.
The man was detained upon Ukraine’s formal request, RBC-Ukraine reported with reference to the Russian media.
In response to the detention, Russian occupation administration official Alexander Molokhov claimed Franchetti’s extradition equaled a death sentence to him, apparently forgetting that Ukraine had long abolished capital punishment.
The report also says the SBU Security Service of Ukraine was preparing further procedural action against the suspect.
According to the Peacemaker Center NGO, Alexander Franchetti arrived in Sevastopol from Russia in the spring of 2014, where he joined the “Sevastopol Defense Group,” and later organized a reconnaissance unit, which terrorized the city’s pro-Ukrainian population. He operated under the call sign “Alexander Kramarenko”.
Franchetti took a direct part in Russia’s special operation toward the occupation of Crimea, for which he was awarded the medal of the Return of Crimea. In 2015, he had been an assistant to Olga Khomyakova (United Russia party), a deputy at the occupation authorities’ “legislative assembly” in Sevastopol.
