Kremlin says has no information to suggest Russians detained by Belarus did anything illegal

The Kremlin said on Thursday it was unaware of any illegal activity carried out by a group of alleged Russian mercenaries detained by Belarus on suspicion of plotting a violent attack in the run-up to an election. "We don't have information about any illegal activity carried out by them," said Peskov. "We hope to receive information that will allow us to sort this out".

The Kremlin said on Thursday it was unaware of any illegal activity carried out by a group of alleged Russian mercenaries detained by Belarus on suspicion of plotting a violent attack in the run-up to an election. Belarus said earlier on Thursday it suspected the group of plotting "acts of terrorism" ahead of a presidential election in August and summoned Russia's ambassador on Thursday for an explanation.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow wanted an exhaustive explanation from Belarus about their detention and hoped their rights would be observed in full. "We don't have information about any illegal activity carried out by them," said Peskov.

"We hope to receive information that will allow us to sort this out".