Ukrainian consuls were not allowed to communicate confidentially with seafarers – Polozov

Polozov told Radio Liberty

"Unfortunately, the communication with the consuls is not confidential .., it goes on a general basis, and this conversation is controlled.But nevertheless, the sailors communicated the their country's position and told them that they were struggling, "said the lawyer.

Polozov also stated that the wounded sailors visited their lawyers on December 12 and that they were able to contact them confidentially.

"All the sailors with whom investigations were conducted declared themselves to be prisoners of war, and Roman Mokryak stated that since he commanded the ship Berdyansk and that he was a prisoner of war with his subordinates he would not testify until his subordinates had been released because they would have executed his orders.The investigation itself is always the following: the investigator presents to the seafarers the decisions relating to the appointment of several technical experts and a small interrogation in which sailors declare to be prisoners of war and not the criminals who try to present them to the Russian authorities, "said Polozov.

According to Polozov, the main task of the group of defenders of Ukrainian seamen is to reunite each lawyer with his client. "Lefortovo" is a "closed institution" and everything is planned so that lawyers are very difficult to accomplish. For example, Lefortovo illegally requires that lawyers get permission from an investigator on the first visit of a defendant in an isolator. In addition, lawyers are required to meet with those arrested in the investigators' offices.

An artificial turn is created, so that five or six lawyers at most can enter the SIZO per day.

"The time of confidential communication is not expected in the investigator's office of the isolator, and in the investigator's office of the investigative department of the FSB, which closely adjoins "Lefortovo", and where prisoners are taken in. In this mode, it will always be at least next week and possibly until December 25. We expect that all lawyers will see their customers before the New Year ", – hopes Polozov.

According to what was reported, in the investigation center of Lefortovo in Moscow – a prison that was subordinated to the KGB in the Soviet era and now to the FSB – counts 21 sailors of the Ukrainian army. "Lefortovo" is the only prison in Russia that is not subject to the Federal Service for the Execution of Sentences (FSFP).

Three wounded sailors are in the SIZO hospital "Matrosskaya silhina".

Frontier ships of the Russian Federation committed acts of aggression on 25 November against Ukrainian vessels, which made a planned transition from the port of Odessa to the port of Mariupol. They fired and captured three Ukrainian ships – Berdyansk, Nikopol and Yana Kapu, carrying 24 sailors on board.