VIENNA, January 20. /TASS/: Russia finds worrisome the reports NATO countries have been moving weapons and military personnel to Ukraine, Russia’s permanent representative to the OSCE, Alexander Lukashevich, said at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna.
"We are alarmed by reports some member-countries of NATO have stepped up the deployment of lethal weapons and military personnel to Ukraine. This week alone several British military planes carrying guided missile systems have landed in Kiev," Lukashevich said.
The Russian diplomat stressed that US military transport and reconnaissance aircraft were appearing in the skies over Ukraine ever more often and that the United States had lifted obstructions to the re-export of their missile systems and other weapons from the Baltic countries to Ukraine.
"We are also worried by reports a Canadian special operations contingent has been airlifted to Ukraine and that preparations are being made for sending more armaments. What will they be doing there? When will they appear on the engagement line?" Lukashevich said.
The Russian representative said this by no means promoted stabilization in the east of Ukraine or pan-European security in general.
"In reality, Kiev is being pushed towards a new spiral of violence in Donbass. There is every indication that the task remains the same - to fuel tensions near Russia’s borders at any cost," Lukashevich said.
Lately, the Western countries and Kiev have been speculating a great deal about the risks of Russia invading Ukraine. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed such allegations as groundless fanning of tensions. He stressed that Russia posed no threat to anyone. Also, he did not rule out the risk of provocations and warned that attempts at handling the crisis in southeastern Ukraine from the position of strength would entail dire effects.
