Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN Gatilov said that Ukraine could decide to provoke a provocation in Crimea jpg” alt=”Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN announced the risk of Ukraine's provocation in Crimea” />
Russia should prepare for possible military actions by the Ukrainian authorities against Russians in Crimea, said Gennady Gatilov, Russia's permanent representative to the UN Geneva office in an interview with RIA Novosti.
“It is possible that hotheads in Kiev may “decide on other desperate forceful actions, for example, against” Russian citizens in Crimea or Russian “subjects” bordering Ukraine,” he said.
According to Gatilov, the Ukrainian authorities have resorted to various provocations since the beginning of the conflict in the southeast of the country. He noted that calls for dangerous actions are made by “irresponsible” Ukrainian politicians and media.
Crimea became part of Russia in 2014 following a referendum. Western countries refused to consider the peninsula Russian and announced the annexation of Crimea. The authorities of Ukraine also call it forcibly annexed. The Kremlin, in turn, has repeatedly stressed that the question of ownership of the peninsula is historically closed.
In recent months, Western authorities have been reporting Russia's plans to invade Ukraine. Moscow denies this information. After Western politicians started talking about an invasion, the Kremlin turned its attention to the threat of weapons that Ukraine had pulled to the borders. So, at the end of January, the press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, announced the threat of Ukraine's attack on the Donbass. He said that the supply of Western weapons to the country “once again inspires hotheads in Kiev.” to the beginning of military operations in the self-proclaimed republics.
However, in Kiev, the possibility of sending troops to the Donbass has been denied more than once. Commander-in-Chief of the country's armed forces Valery Zaluzhny said that Ukraine is not developing plans for a military operation in the Donbass or Crimea.
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