Russia has rejected warnings that it is heading for war with Ukraine. „Of course nobody plans to move towards a war, and in principle nobody accepts the possibility of such a war,“ said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in a television interview broadcast yesterday. Also, „the possibility of a civil war in Ukraine“ is not accepted by anyone, added the spokesman for Russia’s head of state Vladimir Putin.
Moscow denies troop movements
Recently, Russia has increased its military presence on the border with eastern Ukraine. Kiev accuses its big neighbor of having concentrated thousands of soldiers on its northern and eastern borders and on the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which it has annexed. Moscow did not deny the troop movements, but stressed that these were internal affairs and did not want to threaten anyone.
Increase in fighting
In addition, despite a ceasefire, fighting in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian army has intensified in recent weeks. Despite the agreement on a ceasefire in July, according to information from Kiev, 26 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the beginning of the year – in the entire past year there were 50. As a result, there was growing international concern that the conflict, which has been going on for years, could escalate again.
Peskov once again denied allegations that Russia was participating in the conflict by providing military support to the rebels. At the same time, the Kremlin spokesman stressed that his country would “not remain indifferent” to the fate of Russian-speaking people in the conflict region.
