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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday rejected claims that Russian special forces are fomenting unrest in eastern Ukraine, but recognized for the first time that the troops in unmarked uniforms who had overtaken Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula before its annexation by Moscow were Russian soldiers.

[np_storybar title=”Canada sending six CF-18s to Europe to bolster NATO forces response to Ukraine” link=”http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/04/17/canada-sending-six-cf-18s-to-europe-to-bolster-nato-forces-response-to-ukraine/”]

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Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada will contribute six CF-18 jet fighters to a NATO air-policing mission as a response to the crisis in the Ukraine.

The jets and ground support staff will be based in Poland.

In addition, the military is sending up to 20 staff officers to bolster the Canadian presence at NATO headquarters in Brussels as the alliance organizes a further response.