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Russian lawmaker says Kiev seeking to drag EU into cold war against Russia

The goal is to stir up a new wave of hysteria and drag the European Union into a cold war against Russia, Alexey Pushkov, chairman of the international committee of the State Duma wrote in his Twitter

Alexey Pushkov Anna Isakova/TASS

Alexey Pushkov

© Anna Isakova/TASS

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International community should put pressure on Kiev, not Russia — Deputy Foreign Minister

MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. Kiev’s decision to resume combat operations in eastern Ukraine was timed for a European Union’s Council on January 19, a Russian lawmaker wrote in his Twitter microblog on Sunday.

“The goal is to stir up a new wave of hysteria and drag the European Union into a cold war against Russia,” Alexey Pushkov, chairman of the international committee of the Russian State Duma lower parliament house, wrote.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday sent a written message to his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko offering a plan of pulling out heavy weaponry by the conflicting parties. Kiev turned this plan down having offered nothing instead, the Kremlin said on Sunday.

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Earlier on Sunday, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, Yury Biryukov, said the Ukrainian military had been ordered to open heavy fire at the positions of militias in the zone of the force operation in south-eastern Ukraine.

On Sunday, Ukraine’s armed forces shelled Donetsk, Gorlovka and positions of the DPR militias about 50 times, the Donets News Agency cited the press service of the defense ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). “Eight militias were killed, 32 were wounded,” the press service said. “We are getting prepared to rebuff further attack of the Ukrainian military.” The Mayor of Gorlovka, Oleg Gubanov, said that two persons had been killed and 16 more had been wounded in shelling. The Donetsk administration reported the death of five civilians.

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Ukraine crisis Ukraine EU Alexey Pushkov Eastern Ukraine

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