https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/21/politics/white-house-americans-russia/index.html

White House says it's 'appalling' Russia won't rule out executing detained Americans who volunteered to fight for Ukraine

The White House says it is "appalling" Russia won't rule out applying the death penalty on two American citizens who are detained after volunteering to fight in Ukraine.

"We still are trying to learn more about these two individuals," said John Kirby, the coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council.

"It's appalling that a public official in Russia would even suggest the death penalty for two American citizens that were in Ukraine. And we're going to continue to try and learn what we can about this," he said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday the Geneva Convention the charter that sets out how soldiers and civilians are treated in wartime, including banning execution of prisoners of war does not apply to the two detained US citizens.

Peskov said the death penalty could not be ruled out, but that it was a decision for a court and not the Kremlin.

Kirby said he wouldn't try and get into Peskov's or Vladimir Putin's heads, but he added whether the prospect of the death penalty was real or hypothetical, it was troubling no matter what.

"Either way, it's equally alarming, whether they actually mean what they're saying here and this could be an outcome, that they could levy a death penalty against two Americans in Ukraine," he said. "Or that they just feel it's a responsible thing for a major power to do, to talk about doing this as a way of signaling to the President of the United States and the American people. Either one of them is equally alarming."