Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine claimed they gave Morocco permission to speak with Ibrahim Saadoun, Russian state-owned agency RIA Novosti reported today, citing a “senior” official in the Donetsk People’s Republic. Morocco denied making contact with Donetsk.
A few hours after RIA Novosti alleged the contact between Morocco and Saadoun, Morocco’s foreign ministry published a statement denying it had made official or unofficial contact with the “unilaterally proclaimed Republic of Donetsk.”.
The Moroccan embassy in Kyiv confirmed that “Morocco denies this information”, following news circulated in the media regarding the existence of contacts between Morocco and the “unilaterally proclaimed Republic of Donetsk,” read the statement.
“This entity is not recognized neither by our country nor by the United Nations,” the statement said. “There can be no official or unofficial contact of the Moroccan state with such an entity.”
The court of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, which is recognized only by Russia, sentenced Ibrahim Saadun and two British citizens to death last June, after they were captured while fighting alongside Kyiv forces.
The Moroccan embassy in Kyiv previously said that Ibrahim Saadoun, who joined the ranks of the Ukrainian army of his own free will, is currently in the custody of an entity that is not recognized, neither by the United Nations nor by Morocco.
The embassy said Saadoun “was arrested while wearing the uniform of the state army of Ukraine, as a member of a unit of the Ukrainian navy.” The Moroccan embassy in Kiev remains the only constant.
Saadoun’s father pleaded Moroccan authorities today to appeal on behalf of his son.
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