Moscow Says Claims Russia Shot Down Ukraine Warplane 'Absurd'
Russia on Thursday dismissed as absurd Kiev's claims that it had shot down a Ukrainian warplane over its territory, a move that led to a fresh spike in tensions between the two ex-Soviet states.
"This is absurd, just like all previous accusations against the Russian defense ministry by Kiev authorities," an unidentified high-ranking representative of the defense ministry told the Interfax news agency.
For his part, Russia's U.N. envoy flat-out rejected the claim that a Russian jet had shot down the Ukrainian warplane.
"We didn't do it," Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York.
Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council said on Twitter that a military plane from the Russian air force carried out a rocket strike on a Ukrainian airforce SU-25 over Ukraine on Wednesday.
The pilot of the downed fighter jet managed to eject and was later evacuated by Ukrainian forces, the military said.
The latest allegation from Kiev comes after it said that a military transport plane downed Monday was "likely" hit by a missile fired from the Russian side of the porous border.
A spokesman for the security council confirmed Thursday that two of the eight crew members on board died in the incident, while another four have been rescued and two were captured by pro-Russian rebels.
Tensions along the frontier -- across which Ukraine says Russia is pouring fighters and weapons to fuel the separatist uprising -- are at boiling point, with Kiev warning that Moscow has massed thousands of troops there in preparation for a possible invasion.
The U.S. and EU on Wednesday slapped tougher sanctions on Moscow in a bid to force the Kremlin into pressuring pro-Russian rebels into ending a three-month insurgency that has claimed more than 600 lives.
Source: Agence France Presse
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/139304 |