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Russian human rights ombudsman blasts Sweden’s double standards on mercenaries in Ukraine

Swedish mass media report that some 30 Swedish radical mercenaries are fighting on the side of Kiev forces in eastern Ukraine, the diplomat wrote in his Twitter

© EPA/TATYANA ZENKOVICH

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MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/. Sweden is conducting a double standard policy towards mercenaries fighting against militias in eastern Ukraine, Russia’s human rights ombudsman Konstantin Dolgov said on Friday.

Swedish mass media report that some 30 Swedish radical mercenaries are fighting on the side of Kiev forces in eastern Ukraine, the diplomat wrote in his Twitter microblog.

Amnesty International believes that Swedish mercenaries have a hand in mass violations of human rights, including notorious executions and military crimes in Ukraine, he said.

“At the same time, the Swedish authorities are indifferent towards their citizens’ role in crimes in Ukraine,” Dolgov said. Meanwhile, Stockholm has expressed concerns over the so-called “jihad trips” of Swedes to the Middle East and the government is now drafting a bill to ban them.

“So Swedish radicals cannot commit outrages in the Middle East, but they are allowed to do this in Ukraine?” Dolgov said. “This is another “double standard” in the policy of Stockholm,” he stressed.

Moscow suspects that nationals of Sweden, the United States, Finland as well as Baltic states have been involved in Kiev’s special operation against militias in eastern Ukraine.

German media reports claimed that about 400 US mercenaries hired from a US private security firm Academi, previously known as Blackwater, supported Kiev forces in eastern Ukraine. The White House later denied the reports.

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Foreign policy Konstantin Dolgov Sweden

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The Collective Security Treaty came into force on April 20, 1994 to herald the emergence what would eventually become the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The six member-countries are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan

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