UNITED NATIONS, February 16. /TASS/. Russian troops remain on the territory of the Russian Federation and pose no threat to anyone, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky told reporters on Tuesday.
"I don't know about any threats. Our troops on our territory present threat to no one," he said, commenting on Western media reports of an alleged Russian ‘threat.’
When asked to comment on the return of Russian servicemen to their home bases after exercises, the diplomat said Russia was speaking about that from the very outset. "We said it from the beginning, so nothing extraordinary," he added.
Polyansky said he had no information about when other Russian military units would complete their exercises.
"I think it's up to the Ministry of Defense. In one week's time, training with Belarus, I think, will be over. As for the rest of the troops, I don't know. I don't know about the numbers, because there are a lot of speculations about it. I haven't seen confirmations, only speculations in Western press," he said.
Concerns over Moscow’s alleged preparations for an invasion into Ukraine have become more and more frequent in the West and in Kiev recently. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov castigated these statements as an empty and groundless escalation of tension, emphasizing that Russia posed no threat to anyone. At the same time, the Kremlin press secretary did not rule out possible provocations to justify such claims and warned that the attempts to resolve the Ukrainian conflict by force would carry extremely serious consequences.