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Canada worried over alleged reports about movement of Russian troops near Ukrainian border

Canadian Foreign Minister called on Russia to observe the Minsk agreements as, in his words, the Ukrainian side was doing

Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird ITAR-TASS/EPA/ANDREW GOMBERT

Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird

© ITAR-TASS/EPA/ANDREW GOMBERT

OTTAWA, November 6. /TASS/. Canada is worried over reports about movement of Russian troops in the vicinity of the border with Ukraine, Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird said on Wednesday.

He urged Russia to withdraw its troops not only from border regions but from Ukraine’s territory as well. He called on Russia to observe the Minsk agreements as, in his words, the Ukrainian side was doing.

He pledged his country would continue to keep a close eye on the situation and will go on working with its allies to exert pressure on Russia.

Previously, Reuters said, referring to NATO representative Colonel Jay Jensen, that the Alliance reported a significant withdrawal of supposedly Russian trrops from the Ukrainian territory. In response, a spokesman for the Russian defence ministry, Igor Konashenkov doubted the reliability of this source, saying this “official statement” had been sent by an ordinary member of the staff by e-mail to the authoritative news agency.

Konashenkov said that he would not be surprised to see anti-Russian outbursts on behalf of NATO sent in an SMS format by representatives of cleaning service companies engaged by the NATO headquarters.

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