On Monday, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said the Geneva Conventions would not apply to two Americans captured by Russian forces.
The Geneva Conventions are a series of agreements, which includes the treatment of prisoners of war.
Russian media released a video of two men, 39-year-old Iraq War veteran Alexander Drueke and 27-year-old Andy Huynh, who served in the Marines.
The two were volunteering with a squad of foreign fighters in the Ukrainian army when they disappeared.
Peskov claim the two men were "soldiers of fortune" and not enlisted in the Ukrainian army, thus not protected under the Geneva Conventions.
They were reportedly taken prisoner by Russian forces during fighting in eastern Ukraine in June 2022.
