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Russia never had plans of invading Ukraine — diplomat

The diplomat added that this stance will remain in place "unless we are provoked by Ukraine or by somebody else"

UNITED NATIONS, November 12. /TASS/. Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky on Thursday dismissed a Bloomberg report, claiming that Russia could allegedly be planning an invasion into Ukraine.

"No, we never planned and we never will," he said, answering to a question from a reporter.

The diplomat added that this stance will remain in place "unless we are provoked by Ukraine or by somebody else, and there will be the issue of defending our national sovereignty, because there are a lot of threats coming from Ukraine."

Russia’s precautions taken with regard to Ukraine are due to regular threats voiced by the Kiev government, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky has told reporters.

"We have the right to concentrate our troops wherever we want. This is not the Ukrainian territory, this is the Russian territory. If you read the threats, concrete threats that are being pronounced by Ukraine against Russia, against Russian territorial integrity, then you will understand that certain precaution is a logical step in such a situation," he said, commenting on media allegations that Russia was concentrating its troops on the border with Ukraine.

On November 3, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova took a swipe at articles published in US media outlets that claim Russia was allegedly amassing troops at the Ukrainian border, branding them to be part of a fake news campaign. She noted that at least three US media outlets - Politico, the Washington Post and Foreign Policy published "as if on cue in a real panic attack" materials that Russia was allegedly moving its troops to the Ukrainian border. "This wasn’t one fake news item, this is an entire fresh fake news campaign in American media outlets," the diplomat said at a briefing on Wednesday.

Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing several sources, that US administration officials had briefed their European colleagues about their concerns of Russia’s possible preparations for an invasion of Ukraine. Those assumptions were reportedly based on some secret information, available only to the US. At the same time, Washington did not provide its European partners with this information.

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