Leaders of Russia and Belarus discuss arrested contractors

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the leader of Belarus on Friday to release 33 Russian security contractors who were arrested on charges of planning to foment unrest ahead of the country's presidential election.

Belarusian authorities accused the Russian contractors of planning to instigate mass riots as Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko contends with significant opposition protests as he seeks a sixth term in Sunday's election.

Putin and Lukashenko spoke by phone Friday, their first conversation since the Russians' were arrested on July 29 outside Belarus's capital of Minsk. The Kremlin said the two leaders “voiced confidence that the situation will be settled in the spirit of mutual understanding typical for cooperation between the two countries.”

It added that “Russia is interested in the preservation of a stable domestic political situation in Belarus and calm atmosphere at the forthcoming presidential election.”

Government security officials have linked the Russians to the jailed husband of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, a 37-year-old former teacher who is running to unseat the authoritarian Lukashenko after his 26 years in power. Moscow has said the security contractors only were in Belarus because they missed a connecting flight to another country.

Belarusian authorities claimed the arrested contractors worked for the Wagner company, a private military firm is linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian businessman who was indicted in the United States for meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Wagner has allegedly deployed hundreds of military contractors to eastern Ukraine, Syria and Libya.

The government in Minsk has further irked Moscow by raising the possibility that some of the contractors could be handed over to Ukraine, which wants them on charges of fighting...