MOSCOW, January 11 (RAPSI) – The Federal Security Service’s (FSB) Investigation Office has filed a motion seeking to extend detention for Ukrainian sailors charged with illegal crossing of Russian borders, defense lawyer for several defendants Nikolay Polozov has told RAPSI.

The motion will be heard by Moscow’s Lefortovsky District Court on January 15, the attorney said.

On November 25, Russian border guard officers had to engage a weapon to stop unwarranted maneuvers of three Ukrainian ships in Russia’s territorial waters in the area of Kerch Strait. The ships were seized while 24 crew members were arrested. Three sailors were wounded. 

Simferopol and Kerch courts ruled the sailors be detained. On November 30, all of them were transferred to Moscow.

Russia’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Tatiana Moskalkova said in December that the sailors’ rights were not violated. Their rights to a procedure and confinement conditions as well as rights to medical care are observed as required by international and Russian laws, Moskalkova told journalists. She also added that the injured sailors were recuperating in a hospital.