Russian border crossers sentenced to two months in prison
Two Russian fishermen detained by Estonian border guards after their boat crossed onto the Estonian side on September 20, were today sentenced to two months and nine days in prison.
"Viru County Court found Mihhail Suhoshin, 64, and Alexander Ladur, 54, guilty of all charges and sentenced them to two months and nine days in prison," county court spokesperson Jelena Muttonen told the daily Eesti Päevaleht. Both also received an entry ban for five years.
Suhoshin and Ladur were charged with resisting arrest and an illegal border crossing. They crossed onto the Estonian side of the temporary border line marked by special buoys on the Narva River and ignored the signal to stop, "on three occasions" cutting the rope that the border guards used to tow their boat, and attempted to flee the scene.
"There are relatively few accidental illegal border crossings. Resistance to border guards is encountered extremely rarely," said a police and border guard spokesperson at the time.
Both men are believed to have held the rank of major in KGB, the Soviet secret service, and later worked for FSO (Federal Protective Service) but are now retired, Russian news website 47news.ru reported after the arrest.