COLOMBO, November 27. /TASS/. The United States is pushing Ukraine into the abyss of a civil war which has claimed thousands of lives, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov told Asian counterparts on Thursday.

“American and NATO military forces are moving closer to Russia’s threshold and the US has intensified activity in former Soviet republics," he told an inaugural meeting of the South and South-East Asian Nations Defense Chiefs’ Dialogue in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital.

"The latest example is pushing Ukraine into an abyss through support to Maidan (the protest movement in Kiev’s Central Independence Square - TASS) and an anti-constitutional state coup,” he added.

“The lawfully elected president was ousted from power in a military way,” the minister said. “A fraternal country for Russia was pushed into civil war. Thousands of people were killed,” Antonov said.

“Russia is ready to promote a peaceful settlement in Ukraine through broad nationwide dialogue with all regions and political forces in the country involved,” he went on, calling for "honest, consistent fulfilment of the Minsk peace deals over ceasefire in southeast Ukraine”.