"There [in Ukraine] may be citizens of all the countries: both Ukraine and Russia, and may be citizens of European countries," Peskov told reporters. "But there are no Russian Armed Forces there, about what our colleagues in Ukraine and our colleagues in Europe and Washington have been speaking all the time," he said.
The Russian presidential spokesman commented on the reports about the recent detention of another Russian citizen in Ukraine. He stressed that this information needs to be checked and confirmed.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told reporters earlier in the day that 12 militias, including one Russian citizen, were detained during the fighting near the town of Maryinka, near Donetsk.
On Wednesday, the standoff escalated on the contact line, near Maryinka in the vicinity of Donetsk, where active combat actions were seen between the Ukrainian forces and militias.
The Donetsk republic’s defence ministry spokesman Eduard Basurin has called the events a "large-scale provocation of Ukraine’s forces."
Last month, Russian nationals Alexander Alexandrov and Yevgeny Yerofeyev were detained by Ukraine’s SBU in the Lugansk region. The Ukrainian authorities claimed that the persons were allegedly Russian servicemen.
The Russian Defence Ministry later stressed that the Russian citizens were not active servicemen of the country’s armed forces at the moment when they were detained.
The leader of the Luhansk People’s Republic, Igor Plotnitsky, said that Alexandrov and Yerofeyev were members of the LPR’s people’s militias adding that their names were the first ones on the list for the prisoner swap. He noted that Kiev could use the detention for provocations.
http://tass.ru/en/russia/799043
5/6/15
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Ukraine's Poroshenko says rebels ousted from Maryinka...
ReplyDeleteUkraine's president says his forces have ousted pro-Russia rebels from the eastern town of Maryinka and captured 12 "saboteurs", including one Russian.
Petro Poroshenko's claim has not been independently confirmed.
Heavy fighting erupted on Wednesday in Maryinka and Krasnohorivka, west of rebel-held Donetsk.
The opposing sides have accused each other of shattering February's Minsk ceasefire, requiring them to withdraw heavy weapons from the frontline.
The Donetsk rebel leader spoke of huge losses in the Ukrainian army.
Alexander Zakharchenko, leader of the self-styled "Donetsk People's Republic", said the Maryinka fighting had left about 400 Ukrainian troops dead and up to 1,000 wounded.
"This was a counter-attack. If we had attacked, we would have captured Maryinka," he said on Friday.
Quoted by Russia's RIA Novosti news agency, he said 15 rebel fighters had been killed and 30 wounded.
Tanks and other heavy weapons were used in the clashes, despite the terms of the Minsk accord agreed in February demanding that both sides pull heavy weapons far back from the front line.
BBC
Harper urged to align G7 in stand against Russia...
ReplyDeleteUkraine's envoy is urging Prime Minister Stephen Harper to push his fellow G7 leaders into a strong political stand against the latest Russian aggression, but says his country can make do without weapons from the West.
Prior to the G7 leaders' summit in Germany getting underway Sunday, Harper is now on his way to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, where he will find himself in a country gripped by renewed violence.
Five Ukrainian troops were killed Wednesday in a violent outbreak that witnesses say involved the deployment of heavy artillery on the Russian side -- an apparent violation of the earlier Minsk ceasefire agreement between the two countries......http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/harper-urged-to-align-g7-in-stand-against-russia-1.2407809
5/6/15
Russia’s answer to Ukraine’s sanctions over Crimea to be adequate — Russian deputy...
ReplyDeleteRussia’s answer to Ukraine, if it imposes sanctions over Crimea’s reunification with Russia, will be adequate as prescribed by international practice, Leonid Slutsky, the head of the Russian State Duma Committee for CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Compatriots residing abroad, said on Friday.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said earlier on Friday that he had submitted a list of anti-Russian sanctions to the Ukrainian government over Crimea’s reunification with Russia. According to him, the Ukrainian sanctions list includes everybody who represented the country at the false (March 16) referendum. The restrictive measures will apply both to legal entities and individuals, Poroshenko said adding there were many natives of Crimea on the sanctions’ list.
"Naturally, Russia’s reply will be adequate and possibly symmetrical as prescribed by international practice, if the sanctions are really imposed," Slutsky told TASS.
http://tass.ru/en/russia/799155
5/6/15