Russia’s Foreign Ministry voiced its anxiety on Thursday about the creation of a joint Polish-Lithuanian-Ukranian battle group.

A Ukrainian tank in action during a training session on the military shooting range called Desna, 100 km north-east from Kiev, Ukraine, 02 April 2014. Photo: PAP/EPA/ANDREY SINITSYN

“This decision has provoked uncertain feelings and concern,” foreign ministry press spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich told journalists in Moscow, Thursday.

“Why is this battle group being created? The problem is because the internal conflict in Ukraine has been internationalised,” he added.

Lukashevich said that “adding joint military efforts rather than searching for a political solution is absolutely counterproductive and dangerous from the point of view of the heightening of tensions in the region”.

The announcement comes as during a recent visit to Ukraine, Polish President Bronisław Komorowski announced that the new international battle group would be based in Lublin, south-east Poland.

However, Komorowski said that the group is not one “which is to wage war in the Donbas, but a brigade which will allow the Ukrainian army to gain experience which will be useful in bringing the country closer to armies of the NATO alliance”.

The LITPOLUKRBRIG battle group is made up units from the Lithuanian, Polish and Ukrainian armies. The group is to number some 4,500 troops and be stationed in Lublin.

Initial arrangements on the creation of the unit were penned in November 2009, with a binding agreement signed in September 2014. (jb)

Source: PAP