They vanished for weeks. Now Russia says it detained two Colombian men on suspicion of fighting for Ukraine

Russian authorities say they have detained two Colombian men suspected of fighting for the Ukrainian military – a shocking twist in the weeks-long case of their disappearance since mid-July.

Russian authorities say they have detained two Colombian men suspected of fighting for the Ukrainian military – a shocking twist in the weeks-long case of their disappearance since mid-July. The last time Cielo Imbachí heard from her husband was more than 40 days ago, while he was on a layover in the Venezuelan capital Caracas. At the time, Jose Aron Medina was on his way back to Colombia after spending around nine months in Ukraine, she says. He never made it home. On Friday, Medina and his friend, fellow Colombian Alexander Ante, appeared in a video released by the Russian Federal Security Service, which accused them both of “participating in hostilities on the side of Ukraine against the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation as mercenaries.” The Colombians were carrying “documents confirming their illegal activities,” said the FSB statement, and clothing with the insignia of the Ukrainian Carpathian Sich battalion. State TV channel Russia 1 reported that Ante and Medina were in Venezuela when they were detained and extradited to Russia. Their detention in Moscow was ordered by the city’s Lefortovsky District Court on August 28 and they are being held until October 22, the court’s press service told state news agency TASS.