Kremlin says death penalty for captured U.S. citizens cannot be ruled out

MOSCOW – The Kremlin said on Tuesday that the U.S. citizens captured in Ukraine were subject to court decisions and did not rule out that they could face the death penalty.

“We can’t rule anything out, because these are court decisions. We don’t comment on them and have no right to interfere,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

He said the Kremlin did not know where the men were now, after their families said they had not returned from a mission around the Kharkiv region.

On Monday, the Kremlin said that the two Americans detained in Ukraine were mercenaries not covered by the Geneva Conventions and should face consequences for their actions.