Kiev’s army announced August 26 that it had captured the Russian paratroopers after their incursion into Ukraine. The military officials claimed the 10 detained servicemen had crossed the border to fight alongside anti-government forces.



According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the soldiers had been on a routine patrol, which accidentally strayed into foreign territory without any hostile intent.



READ MORE: Russian soldiers captured in Ukraine say they 'were lost' in Kiev-released video



President Vladimir Putin reiterated that Friday. “In fact, this is the case, I’m talking seriously. I believe that they had just gotten lost because there are no boundary markers there,” the president said.



Putin also said that he had negotiated the release of the paratroopers with his Ukrainian counterpart during their meeting in Minsk, Belarus, earlier this week.



“I believe this is just a technical issue. Petro Poroshenko and I talked about this [in Minsk] and he affirmed that the Russian military servicemen would be handed back over to Russia, just as we continue to return soldiers [to Ukraine] from the Ukrainian Army,” Putin said.



Moscow has reiterated there have been numerous cases of incursions into Russian territory by Ukrainian soldiers. One incident involved an armored personnel carrier, and the soldiers were armed.



At the beginning of August, over 400 Ukrainian troops were allowed to cross into Russia after requesting sanctuary.

Russia has always been quick in handing back Ukrainian soldiers who’ve crossed into its territory, while giving sanctuary to those servicemen who wanted to stay.