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Chief of Russian General Staff, SACEUR discuss situation in Ukraine

MOSCOW, March 19, /ITAR-TASS/. Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), General Philip Breedlove called Chairman of the Russian Army General Staff, Colonel-General Valery Gerasimov on Wednesday, March 19, to discuss the situation in Ukraine, the Russian Defence Ministry said.

“Different aspects of the crisis in Ukraine were discussed in detail,” it said.

Gerasimov shared his assessment of security in Crimea after its secession referendum on March 16. “In this context he explained the role of Crimea’s self-defence forces in ensuring law and order on the peninsula and preventing extremist and terrorist activities,” the ministry said.

“The chief of the General Staff drew his interlocutor’s attention to the incident in Simferopol on March 18, in which Crimean self-defence members and Ukrainian army servicemen were killed, and Kiev’s subsequent decision to allow Ukrainian servicemen to use arms,” the Defence Ministry said.

Gerasimov and Breedlove “agreed to continue the contacts,” it said.