MOSCOW, May 23. /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian Armed Forces General Staff stated that tens of foreign mercenaries are acting in Ukraine on the side of the current Kiev authorities, a high-ranking representative of the country’s General Staff who participates in the 3rd Moscow International Security Conference told reporters on Friday.

“According to available data, dozens of foreign mercenaries, including Americans, are taking part in combat actions on the side of Kiev authorities in south-eastern Ukraine,” the General Staff representative said.

Earlier, Russia’s ambassador to the OSCE Andrei Kelin stated at the session of the organization’s permanent council that there were no Russian subversives in Ukraine, however, US mercenaries were coordinating Ukrainian servicemen in the south-east.

The diplomat recalled that at the previous meetings, the Russian side asked the colleagues to confirm there were no employees of American private military enterprises on the territory of Ukraine. “We were assured that they weren’t there. However, today reports appear in western — not Russian — media, in particular, in the famous German newspaper Das Bild, that foreign mercenaries are indeed in Ukraine,” he said.

According to the General Staff, there are also facts of participation of private military companies in the Ukrainian events.

The United States and its allies initiated a large part of modern local military conflicts, Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov said at the 3rd Moscow International Security Conference on Friday.

“The US cannot put up with formation of new centers of power,” he said, noting that the US used a broad range of methods, such as sanctions and aid to pro-Western forces. “The military force is becoming a decisive argument,” Gerasimov noted.

Russian Defense Minister General Sergei Shoigu said that attempts to stage a colored revolution are being made in Ukraine. In his words, attempts were earlier taken to fulfil a similar scenario in other CIS states.

Radio interception data

Representatives of people’s militia taking part in Sloviansk defense, have reported May 2 that radio interception data points to participation of foreigners in the punitive operation carried out by the Kiev authorities.

Thus, on different radio frequencies, the militiamen noted that their rivals were talking in English.

Russia demands that the USA carries out an investigation

Earlier, Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov stated that Moscow insists on looking into the reports saying employees of Greystone, a US-based private military company, were involved in the Ukrainian developments, as well as that an American arms depot was found in the republic’s territory.

In addition, the minister mentioned that, according to some reports, “in some incidents, foreigners were also noted”.