A court in Russian-controlled east Ukraine convicted 28-year-old Aiden Aslin, from Newark, 48-year-old Shaun Pinner, from Watford, and Saaudun Brahim on charges of “terrorism”.
Observers said the process was intended to imitate the war crimes trials of Russian soldiers taking place in Kyiv.
Both Britons have said they were serving in the Ukrainian marines, making them active-duty soldiers who should be protected by the Geneva conventions on prisoners of war.
However, Russian state media has portrayed them as mercenaries, and the court has convicted them on the charge of “being a mercenary”.
“I utterly condemn the sentencing of Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner held by Russian proxies in eastern Ukraine,” said the UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss.
There is a moratorium on the death penalty in Russia, but not in the territory it occupies in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine has given three Russian soldiers prison sentences for war crimes tied to the Russian offensive that began on 24 February. »