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Russian officials never issued threats to invade Ukraine — Russian UN envoy

Anyone who says otherwise is misleading you, Vasily Nebenzya said

UNITED NATIONS, January 31. /TASS/. Russian representatives never expressed any threats with respect to preparing to invade Ukraine, Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, said at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday.

"Not a single threat about planning to invade Ukraine has been issued by any Russian political or public figure," he said. "On the contrary, we have rejected these accusations on all levels."

"We are rejecting them again," he went on to say. "Anyone who says otherwise is misleading you."

There has been a flurry of statements in the West and Kiev lately that Russia could invade Ukraine. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said they were unsubstantiated escalation and that Russia doesn’t threaten anyone. At the same time, he didn’t rule out provocations to corroborate these Western statements and warned that the use of force to resolve the crisis in southeastern Ukraine will have serious consequences.