Tensions between Russia and Ukraine have been escalating as Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday accused Kiev of plotting terrorist attacks in Crimea and vowed to take additional measures to ensure the safety of the infrastructure and citizens there.
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Despite that and the fact the conflict in the east has killed more than 9,500 people, Kiev and Moscow have not yet
broken diplomatic ties.
The announcement came on Friday amid escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russian Federation over the contested peninsula.
The reproduction of the story/photograph in any form will be liable for legal action. The system will become fully operational in December, the military said.
USA officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said they saw no firm indications of any new Russian military activity pointing to fresh intervention in Ukraine.
Putin said a mooted meeting with Poroshenko and mediators German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande at next month’s G20 summit in China was now “senseless”. It accused the Ukrainian government in Kiev of trying to send saboteurs into Crimea and reported the deaths of a soldier and a secret police officer in an operation to foil the alleged plot.
A statement by Russia’s Southern Military District, which incorporates Crimea, said the missiles had been received by an air defence regiment in Crimea. “There has been neither concrete evidence provided by Russia sustaining its claim nor any independent confirmation of the claims made by Russian authorities”, said European Commission spokesman Alexandre Polack on Friday. A similar system was deployed to protect Russian assets in Syria after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane in November.
Later Thursday, Ukrainian State Border Service’s Spokesman Oleg Slobodyan said that Ukraine’s frontier guards have already started enhancing the combat readiness of their units near Crimea and in the Lugansk and Donetsk regions.
One US official noted a recent rotation of several divisions of Russian forces into Crimea to relieve an equal number, which have since departed.
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Violence has recently alarmingly stepped up in regions under control of pro-Moscow FORCES, while Moscow attributed the deterioration to a plot by Kiev to seize Crimea that has been occupied by the Russians since 2014.
