MOSCOW, November 30. /TASS/. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday he was unaware if Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered the Defense Ministry to prepare a military response to Kiev’s possible missile launches near Crimea.
"I cannot answer your question," the spokesman told journalists. Honestly speaking, I need to specify this issue," Peskov said in reply to a question about whether the Russian leader had instructed the Defense Ministry to prepare counter attacks to missiles that Kiev may launch over the Crimean airspace.
Ukrainian media outlets have reported about a letter, which the Russian Defense Ministry has allegedly sent to Ukraine’s military attache. The document allegedly said that Russia would destroy Ukrainian missiles and launchers, if Kiev started launching missiles over the Crimean airspace.
Moscow expects Kiev to refrain from actions that could threaten planes flying over Russia.
When asked if Russia could launch missiles against targets in Ukraine in case Kiev held missile firing drills on the territories adjacent to Crimea, Peskov said that "the Kremlin would like Ukraine to refrain from violating international law and creating unsafe conditions for international flights over Russia."
The Russian aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia earlier said that Ukraine had unilaterally decided in violation of all international treaties to hold missile launches in Russia’s sovereign airspace near Crimea, in the area of civil and government planes’ routes, on December 1-2.