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Developments in eastern Ukraine

Russian parliament speaker dismisses allegations of Russia being party to Donbas conflict

Sergey Naryshkin at a meeting with French lawmakers called Kiev's allegations of Russian military presence in Ukraine "a lie and a major stupidity"

© TASS/Stanislav Krasilnikov

MOSCOW, July 23. /TASS/. Russia is not a party to the conflict in the Donbas region, it has no army there, speaker of Russia’s State Duma Sergey Naryshkin said on Thursday.

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"Russia is not a party to the conflict in Donbas, there are no Russian army units on the territory of Donbas, as the authorities in Kiev keep saying on various occasions with maniacal persistence," he said during a meeting with the delegation of French parliamentarians led by member of the French National Assembly and co-chairman of the Franco-Russian Dialogue Association Thierry Mariani.

"I believe any sober-minded person will realize that, if a theoretical state with a population of 40 million people, with a bankrupt economy, with a collapsing army, with a corrupt political leadership, a country, which is in a state of deep social and political crisis, decides to conduct warfare against Russia, this may last for three, four, maximum five days," the State Duma speaker noted. "But Kiev has been waging war on its population for almost a year and a half," he added.

According to Naryshkin, Kiev’s statements that "Ukraine is waging a war against Russia" are "of course, a lie and a major stupidity."

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Foreign policy Eastern Ukraine

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