Russia warned today that it would consider the deployment of European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine as involving the participating countries in a “direct armed conflict“ with Moscow, reported Agence France-Presse.
“It is absolutely unacceptable for us to deploy units of the armed forces of other countries in Ukraine [...] any such action would mean drawing them into a direct armed conflict with our country, to which we will respond with all available means“, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, commenting on the idea of some European countries, allies of Kiev, to send such a military contingent in the event of an agreement to cease hostilities.
Moscow has repeatedly made it clear that it is against any form of military contingent from countries allied with Kiev, regardless of whether they are members of NATO or the European Union, as a guarantee of maintaining peace or security in Ukraine.
However, for the first time, the Russian Foreign Ministry is warning that it will consider this to be tantamount to an act of military aggression.
“We believe that the very "mentioning such plans is a blatant provocation that is not aimed at resolving the conflict, but at feeding unhealthy and harmful illusions among high-ranking representatives of the Kiev authorities," Zakharova noted.