U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spoke by phone on Friday with Poroshenko and urged him “to do his part” to avoid ratcheting up tensions with Russian Federation, according to the White House.
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On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukrainian military intelligence units had tried to infiltrate into Crimea on two sabotage missions against critical infrastructure in the peninsula.
“But there might be pinpoint military operations against radicals whose bases are located near the border with Crimea”. Putin was trying either to alter or to tear up the Minsk peace process, named for the Belarus capital where truces were hammered out for the war in eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region.
This week fighting has erupted in the region along the Ukrainian border with Crimea and across the former Soviet state’s eastern front where they are battling pro-Russian separatists. The FSB said one of its officers died in a firefight while arresting infiltrators and a soldier was killed in further clashes.
“Crimea is part of Ukraine, and it is recognized as such by the global community”, she said, adding: “We call for the avoidance of any actions that would escalate the situation there”.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Friday Russia could break diplomatic ties with Ukraine over reported security incidents in Crimea, something it didn’t even do after annexing Crimea or throwing its support behind separatist rebels in the east.
Ukraine earlier this month rejected Russia’s proposed candidate for its next ambassador to Kiev after Moscow’s man stood down in July, a move that Russian Federation interpreted as an attempt to downgrade diplomatic relations. Kiev denied the assertions, calling them an attempt by Moscow to create an excuse to escalate the situation to war.
“We obviously will not let such things slide by”, Putin said.
The official, who asked not to be named, said that “Russia’s recent military activity in Crimea is not helpful for easing tensions”, and called on Moscow “to work for calm and de-escalation”. In an editorial, the Russian newspaper Vedomosti said escalation was a proven Kremlin tactic ahead of negotiations. The Russian Air Force base in Latakia was reinforced with the SAM system following the downing of a Russian Su-24 plane by a Turkish F-16 fighter jet near the Turkish-Syrian border.
“Will Russia bring an end to it or demand new concessions?” “Putin will scare the West with the prospect of full-scale conflict with Ukraine”, he said.
“Fantasies are only another pretext for the next military threats toward Ukraine”, he said.
Washington rejects Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
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Ukrainian UN Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko warned that Russian Federation had amassed more than 40,000 troops in the region and said the build-up could reflect “very bad intentions”.
