Russia Denies Trying to Send Troops into Ukraine as Aid Workers
Russia denied on Saturday that it had attempted to send troops across the border under the guise of a humanitarian mission, and pledged it would not make such a unilateral intervention.
"Russian troops made no attempt to penetrate" into Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
“We have difficulty understanding what the Ukrainians are talking about," he added.
Ukraine had earlier said it had warded off a convoy of aid with a large contingent of troops and weapons.
"A huge convoy moved towards the Ukrainian border, accompanied by Russian troops and military hardware," Valeriy Chaliy, deputy head of President Petro Poroshenko's office said late on Friday in a television interview.
"Supposedly in consultation with the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine, the humanitarian convoy with 'peacekeepers' was meant to enter apparently in order to provoke a full-scale conflict," he added.
When asked by Russian journalists if Russia would send in a humanitarian mission into Ukraine on a unilateral basis, Peskov said "at least two-sided agreement is needed", according to RIA-Novosti news agency.
The West has long warned that Russia's build-up of troops on the border with eastern Ukraine could see Moscow invade its troubled neighbor.
On Friday, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power slammed Russian proposals of setting up humanitarian corridors to aid people in east Ukraine caught up in heavy fighting and often left with no power or water.
A "unilateral intervention by Russia in Ukrainian territory, including one under the guise of providing humanitarian aid, would be completely unacceptable and deeply alarming and would be viewed as an invasion of Ukraine," Power said.
She drew a parallel with the 2008 crisis in South Ossetia, when Russia justified sending troops into the Georgian territory in response to civilian suffering.
Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told ITAR-TASS news agency that Power’s comments demonstrated the extent of "anti-Russian hysteria" in Washington.
"Our proposal has clearly humanitarian objectives but our initiative is tossed aside and they only talk about how Russia would supposedly try to slip into Ukraine under the guise of humanitarian aid something that doesn't please the U.S.," he said.
Peskov said Russia was deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation in eastern Ukraine.
"This catastrophe is now the topic number one for discussion," he was quoted as saying by RIA-Novosti news agency.
Source: Agence France Presse
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