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Senior Russian MP suggests shrugging off Ukraine’s provocations with military drills

Earlier, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced that the country’s troops would take part in NATO’s largest Defender Europe 21 drills

YALTA /Republic of Crimea/, June 9. /TASS/. Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs of the State Duma Leonid Slutsky said on Wednesday that Ukraine’s provocations, including military drills in the adjacent state’s border area, should be shrugged off.

Ukraine is positioning any blocs, including military alliances, as "unions against Russia in case of an attack by Russia and so on," the senior Russian lawmaker said.

"Let us not place significance on any provocations. Any provocations bounce off Russia like peas off a wall. We do not cave to provocations," Slutsky said on the sidelines of the international festival of Russian and Slavic culture, The Great Russian Word, responding to a question about Ukraine’s participation in NATO drills.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces earlier announced that the country’s troops would take part in NATO’s largest Defender Europe 21 drills. This year, the larger part of the Defender maneuvers will run in the Balkan and Black Sea regions, the Ukrainian General Staff specified.

The international festival of Russian and Slavic culture, the Great Russian Word, has been held in Crimea annually since 2007. The festival runs under the aegis of the Republic of Crimea State Council and the Crimean Council of Ministers with the support of Russian state agencies, the Moscow government, and the Russkiy Mir Foundation (Russian World Fund).

The forum aims to support Russian culture, the Russian language and develop international cooperation in the humanitarian sphere.

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