Russia releases video of interrogation of Australian allegedly captured in Ukraine: country verifies information. VIDEO
Russian propagandists have spread a video showing an Australian citizen allegedly captured during the fighting in Ukraine being interrogated. Australia is currently checking the authenticity of the video and identifying the man.
This is reported by CNN and The Guardian, Censor.NET reports.
Russians distribute video of interrogation
It is noted that the video was first published by Russian propagandist Alexander Sladkov. After that, the video was distributed on telegram channels and social media.
In the video, a man in military clothing introduces himself as 32-year-old Oscar Jenkins, who lives in Australia and Ukraine and works as a teacher.
He answers the Russian's questions in broken Ukrainian and English. He is hit in the face several times when he does not answer quickly enough.
The man's hands are tied with tape or rope. He says he is allegedly not far from Kramatorsk, Donetsk region.
Australian government response
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters that the government was checking this information through the Australian embassy in Moscow, as the Russians had "repeatedly spread false information".
This is disturbing news, and we are working through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to provide support, particularly for this man. We are trying to find out all the details and facts," Albanisi said.
CNN was unable to determine the geolocation of the video, but notes that Oscar Jenkins had difficulty understanding the question in Russian. It is also unknown whether he spoke under duress.
What do you know about Oscar Jenkins?
In the video, he was asked why he was in Ukraine, to which he replied that he was a "soldier". Speaking a mixture of English, Ukrainian and Russian, he said he had worked as a teacher and studied in China.
After the video appeared on the Internet, users found Jenkins' profile on LinkedIn. It states that he graduated from a private Melbourne grammar school and entered Monash University to study biomedical sciences.
The profile also lists jobs in China for several years since October 2015, including as a lecturer at a university in Tianjin.
Earlier, it was reported that 22-year-old British citizen James Scott Rees Anderson, who is fighting on the side of Ukraine, was probably captured by Russian troops in the Kursk region of Russia.
