MOSCOW, August 26. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian servicemen have accidentally crossed the Ukrainian border in a patrol area and have not offered resistance during detention, a Russian Defense Ministry source told ITAR-TASS on Tuesday in comments on the incident.

"The servicemen in question were indeed on patrol of a stretch of the Russian-Ukrainian border; they apparently crossed it accidentally in an undeveloped area containing no signs," the official said, adding that "as far as we know, they did not offer resistance to the Ukrainian armed forces during detention."

The Russian Defense Ministry underlined that Ukrainian troops had repeatedly crossed the Russian border. "Ukrainian servicemen repeatedly entered the Russian territory separately or in groups totalling more than 500, with weapons in hands and carried by armored vehicles and we didn't make much noise about it, simply returning to a safe place in the Ukrainian territory all those who wished so," he said.