Not aware of mercenaries in Russian Army from SL:
Visas issued on valid documents confirming their travel goals:
The Russian Embassy in Colombo in a statement yesterday stressed that the embassy is not aware about the participation of Sri Lankan nationals in the Ukrainian conflict on the Russian side nor any data regarding possible numbers of them.
The Embassy referring to the Daily News lead story published on Friday (19) about presumed recruiting of Sri Lankan mercenaries for the Russian Army, said that the embassy does not possess information about the participation of Sri Lankan nationals in the Ukrainian conflict on the Russia side.
The Embassy also reiterated that the protection of interest and rights of Sri Lankan citizens in the territory of Russia is under the jurisdiction of the Sri Lankan Embassy in Moscow.
“At the same time the Embassy finds it necessary to stress that visas are issued to Sri Lankans by its Consular Section in Colombo on the basis of valid documents of applicants in confirmation of their travel goals which have nothing to do with military operations”.
The statement further said that the Embassy possesses neither information about the participation of Sri Lankan nationals in the Ukrainian conflict on the Russian side, nor any data regarding possible numbers of them. Neither are we aware of a local recruiting agency which ostensibly hires people to join such activities while deceiving about their true nature. The Embassy denies any connections with the return to Sri Lanka of a corporal who allegedly fled from the combat zone as it follows from the “Daily News” article “Popular tele actresses found recruiting mercenaries,” written by Gayan Kumara Weerasinghe.
“We would like to note that protection of interests and rights of Sri Lankan citizens in the territory of Russia is under the jurisdiction of the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Moscow.
At the same time the Embassy finds it necessary to stress that visas are issued to Sri Lankans by its Consular Section in Colombo on the basis of valid documents of applicants in confirmation of their travel goals which have nothing to do with military operations. In order to prevent the entrance of persons with such intentions to Russia the Embassy conducts additional interviews with them.
“However, if the Sri Lankans decide to change their travel goal or nature of activity performed in Russia, we cannot impede them to act so. We would like to reiterate that the issues related to foreigners residing in Russia fall within the competence of relevant diplomatic representations in Moscow while the Russian Embassy in Colombo is in charge of protection of the Russian citizens in Sri Lanka,”the Embassy said in its statement .
Should the Embassy receive an official request from Sri Lankan officials, it will provide available information.
