MOSCOW, June 28. /TASS/. European troops may be deployed to Ukraine if Kiev’s forces fail to meet the West’s expectations for their counteroffensive, Russian Acting Permanent Representative to the EU Kirill Logvinov said in an interview with Izvestia published on Wednesday.
"As for a possible troop deployment, the point of this crisis for the West is to weaken Russia by someone else’s hands. However, in a situation where the EU leadership has embarked on a policy of militarizing the economy, in violation of the core principles of European integration, nothing should be ruled out," the diplomat noted, when asked if European troops could be deployed to Ukraine should Kiev’s much-hyped counteroffensive continue to come up short of the West’s expectations.
He also pointed out that a restoration of relations between Russia and the EU was currently out of the question. "There is only one condition for a future conversation on the principles of conflict-free coexistence: The EU and its member states should end their total war against us in trade, economics, foreign policy, information and other fields," Logvinov said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said earlier that the Ukrainian armed forces have been making unsuccessful attempts at a counteroffensive since June 4. Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev stated that Ukraine had lost 13,000 troops since the start of the counteroffensive. Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized that the Ukrainian military had failed to achieve any success in any area. According to him, the Ukrainian armed forces had lost 259 tanks and 780 armored vehicles since the launch of the counteroffensive.