MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. US statements about Russian air defense in eastern Ukraine have no grounds, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told TASS on Tuesday.
"US representatives did not have any documentary evidence of presence of our equipment and troops in south-eastern Ukraine. These bare words and statements are not backed by anything," Karasin said, commenting on US State Department’s statements about alleged presence of Russian air defense equipment in eastern Ukraine.
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On Monday, US State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said that "the Russian military has deployed additional air defense systems into eastern Ukraine and moved several of these nearer the front lines." "This is the highest amount of Russian air defense equipment in eastern Ukraine since August," Rathke added.
Russia has repeatedly denied such claims and said that all statements regarding alleged presence of Russian troops in Ukraine are groundless.
Moscow said that so far, no one produced any real evidence of Russian troops presence in Ukraine, despite the fact that Russian-Ukrainian border is constantly observed by Western special services, including from space. Most statements on Russia’s alleged interference in Ukrainian affairs are based on materials from the Internet, which cannot be considered as serious proof.