According to the Russian top diplomat, Ukrainian authorities have no control over “an enormous number of servicemen” at the line of engagement in Donbass
/TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov did not rule out the idea that there are forces that would like to provoke military actions around Ukraine.
“On the part of the Russian Federation, there won’t be a war [with Ukraine]. Yet I do not exclude that somebody would like to provoke military actions [around Ukraine],” he said in an interview with radio stations.
Meanwhile, according to the Russian top diplomat, Ukrainian authorities have no control over “an enormous number of servicemen” at the line of engagement in Donbass. “According to Western data, I think, there are even about 100,000 of them at the line of engagement. And the regime in Kiev does not control the majority of these armed people,” he emphasized. “A significant part of the units located there are former volunteer battalions, types of territorial defense battalions, and people’s resistance units,” the diplomat explained.
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The foreign minister noted that these militants are being distributed man-portable air-defense systems (MPADS). “This information is being actively broadcast in media outlets, they are being given MPADS. They are encouraged to bring hunting rifles along because there aren’t enough MPADS for everyone. This is a kind of militarist psychosis. And I cannot exclude that someone there could snap like that militant who shot his five comrades-in-arms,” he added.