Photo from UNIAN

"Indeed, the statistics are threatening, as they show that the number of citizens of Ukraine to be brought to criminal responsibility in Russia in 2015 may double compared to 2014," a source said.

"While a total of 1,370 Ukrainians were arrested and prosecuted in Russia in 2014, 1,892 Ukrainians have already been arrested in the first half of 2015. At the same time, we are [only] talking about cases when the competent authorities of the Russian Federation informed the Consulate of Ukraine in Russia in accordance with the relevant conventions," the diplomat said.

"We can only guess about the number of cases when the Ukrainian side has not been informed about the arrest of the Ukrainians. But it is the fact - there are such cases," he said.

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At the same time, the diplomat said that 70% of cases of detention and conviction of citizens of Ukraine are associated with drug trafficking.

“Drugs might be the easiest way to sentence a person, because it is easy to plant [drugs on people by law enforcement officials], but it’s extremely difficult to prove innocence in such cases," he said.

On July 20, Ivanov said that the FDCS officers detained over 1,300 Ukrainian citizens in 1.5 years. The detainees were engaged in the sale of drugs in the Russian Federation, according to Ivanov.

"Over the last year, we prosecuted 853 citizens of Ukraine, who were engaged in trade of psychoactive substances in different regions of the Russian Federation," the official said on Russia-24 TV channel.

According to Ivanov, the FDCS has already detained over 500 citizens of Ukraine "for the sale of drugs" in the first half of 2015.