MOSCOW, February 15 (RIA Novosti) - Russia’s Foreign Ministry is doing all it can to ensure the release and repatriation of two nationals serving long prison terms in Libya, ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Friday.

The ministry and the Russian Embassy in Tripoli have been working on the case of Vladimir Dolgov and Alexander Shadrov ever since they were sentenced, he said.

“Exhaustive measures are being taken to find a solution to this problem and ensure our citizens’ return to the Motherland as soon as possible,” he said in a commentary posted on the ministry’s website.

The ministry is working with the relevant agencies and organizations, including human rights NGOs abroad, he said, without specifying any details.

The two Russians, as well as 19 Ukrainians and three Belarusians, were arrested in the fall of 2011 by the Transitional National Council (PNC) of Libya. They were accused of taking part in military operations on the side of troops loyal to the ousted former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Shadrov, who was charged with coordinating the group, was sentenced to life in prison. Other defendants, including Dolgov, were sentenced to ten years.

In Libya, rebels ousted and killed long-standing dictator Gaddafi in October 2011 after a months-long military standoff, in which they received assistance from NATO forces.