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Russia doesn’t consider Ukraine as threat, says defense minister

Sergei Shoigu expressed the hope that the situation in Ukraine would ultimately change and the "nationalist mayhem" would be stopped

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu Alexei Yereshko/Russian Defence Ministry Press Office/TASS

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu

© Alexei Yereshko/Russian Defence Ministry Press Office/TASS

MOSCOW, August 29. /TASS/. /TASS/. Russia doesn’t consider Ukraine as a threat and thinks that Ukrainians are a brotherly people, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Sunday.

"I would not speak about Ukraine as a threat. I think that Ukraine and the Ukrainian people is a brotherly nation. They are not just our neighbors, we are a single people. I wouldn’t even dwell on this topic further," he said in an interview with the Solovyov Live YouTube channel, episodes of which were shown on the Rossiya-1 television channel.

He expressed the hope that the situation in Ukraine would ultimately change and the "nationalist mayhem" would be stopped.

When asked why he was ignoring the ruling of a Ukrainian court and was skipping hearings, the minister said jokingly: "My fault, it won’t happen again."

Ukraine’s Security Service said on July 18 that it has summoned Shoigu to bring charges against him and conduct investigative actions. According to Ukraine’s Glavkov media outlet, the Russian minister was to arrive in Mariupol on July 20. Later, the Ukrainian Security Service said that a case against the Russian minister would be heard in court, despite his nonappearance. According to Ukrainian Security Service spokesman Artyom Dekhtyarenko, Shoigu is suspected of "setting up paramilitary units, a terrorist organization and conniving at its activities.".

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