Russia says conducting military drill near Ukraine

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LBCI News Lebanon

Russia on Wednesday conducted military exercises in its south-eastern Rostov region, which borders Ukraine, a spokesman for Russia's southern military district said.

The spokesman declined to give details on the drills. However, Reuters Television footage from the exercises showed columns of military vehicles, including jeeps, armored personnel carriers, mobile multiple rocket launchers, and mobile surface-to-air missile launchers, driving in formation at a military aerodrome.



Moscow also accused Kiev and the United States of distorting an agreement reached in Geneva last week to defuse the crisis in Ukraine and of ignoring what it said were provocative actions by Ukrainian nationalists.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Russia still believes the West is serious about seeking peace in Ukraine but "the facts speak of the opposite."



It repeated Moscow's calls for the immediate withdrawal of Ukrainian military units from southeastern Ukraine and the start of an inclusive dialogue in the former Soviet republic.



Meanwhile, First Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Yarema said Ukraine's government has formally ended an Easter truce and is relaunching the "active phase" of an "anti-terrorist operation" to eliminate armed pro-Russian separatist groups in the east.



Yarema, who has a role in security matters, told reporters on the sidelines of a weekly cabinet meeting the new action was not yet underway, but added: "In the near future, appropriate measures will be taken and you will see results."



Speaking a day after Vice President Joe Biden visited Kiev, he added: "We have obtained the support of the United States, that they will not leave us alone with an aggressor. We hope that in the event of Russian aggression, this help will be more substantive."





Gas talks





Russia's Energy Ministry has proposed European Union Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger to hold a three-way meeting on gas between Russia, Ukraine and the European Commission in Moscow on April 28, a ministry spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

"We send the letter to Oettinger proposing to hold the talks in Moscow on April 28," she told Reuters.

Earlier in the day, Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri Prodan said in Kiev that ministerial talks could be held in the Slovak capital of Bratislava on Thursday, but the Commission said Oettinger was not expected to attend any talks.



REUTERS