MOSCOW: Russian state media said on Monday that Moscow鈥檚 forces fighting in Ukraine had successfully extracted a US citizen from eastern Ukraine who had secretly helped them target Ukraine for at least two years.
State media published a picture of the purported American in civilian clothing embracing a group of what looked like Russian special forces wearing combat uniforms. His face was blurred out in the photograph.
Reuters was unable to independently confirm the Russian reports which cited Moscow鈥檚 forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine as saying they were calling the American 鈥淜enneth M.鈥�
The US embassy in Moscow said it could not comment 鈥渄ue to privacy concerns.鈥�
Russian media cast the man as 鈥淭he Quiet American鈥� after the 1955 novel by Graham Greene which tells the story of early US involvement in Vietnam through the adventures of a British journalist and an American agent.
Russian forces in the Donetsk region were quoted as saying that Russian special forces and army units had spirited the American out of eastern Ukraine and that he had been supplying Russia with 鈥渧aluable intelligence鈥� for two years.
Russian media said he had supplied information that had allowed the Russian military to 鈥渆xecute precision strikes against the enemy.鈥�
鈥淭he life of the rescued American is not in danger,鈥� Rusisan-backed forces in Donetsk were cited as saying. 鈥淭he issue of granting political asylum and becoming a citizen of Russia is being resolved.鈥�