News stories displayed here appear in our category for General and are licensed via a specific agreement between LongIsland.com and The Associated Press, the world’s oldest and largest news organization.
Advertisement
Tensions between Russia and Ukraine have been escalating as Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday accused Kiev of plotting terrorist attacks in Crimea after Moscow said it thwarted a series of terrorist attacks in Crimea planned by the Ukraine military intelligence service. Crimean Tartar activists are reporting large amounts of Russian heavy weaponry moving through Crimea toward Ukraine. “However, if there is no other option to influence the situation, the president can probably make such a decision”, Medvedev said when asked whether severance of diplomatic relations was possible in the wake of Kiev’s attempt to carry out terrorist attacks in Crimea. English-language Ukrainian media outlets interviewed Panov’s brother, Igor Kotelyanets, who said that Panov was kidnapped, and would never have gone into Crimea of his own accord.
A statement by Russia’s Southern Military District, which incorporates Crimea, said the missiles had been received by an air defence regiment in Crimea.
In a move that was likely to add fuel to the dispute Russian state TV aired footage of the interrogations of several alleged infiltrators the authorities claimed to have captured and confessed to having worked for Ukraine’s military intelligence.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko also ordered his security advisers Thursday to bring all units along the Crimean border and in eastern Ukraine to “increased combat-readiness”. The conflict in the east has killed over 9,500 people and is still ongoing.
The Europeans are notably skeptical of Russia’s claims that Ukraine tried to slip saboteurs into Crimea for terrorist attacks.
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau voiced concern about the buildup of tensions.
But he said Russian Federation could help address concerns by following the example of military drills led by the United States and its allies in Europe, to which Russian Federation was allowed to send observers.
“Crimea is part of Ukraine and it is recognized as such by the global community”, she said.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March of 2014, after Russian soldiers in unmarked uniforms took control of key government buildings.
Advertisement
The confrontation coincided with a surge in violence in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas territories and torpedoed plans to revive four-way peace talks at the September Group of 20 meeting in China, with Putin reversing earlier support and calling the negotiations “pointless”.
