The U.S. underscore the significant reduction of Russian troops on the territory of the Russian Federation near the border With Ukraine ? may be, one or two battalions, said the US Ambassador at NATO Douglas Lute.
"in Russia the number of Russian forces that remain in place and have the opportunity to intervene strongly decreased, they currently make up one-two battalions. This is much less than it was a year earlier. But This does not mean that Russian influence on the separatists declined ", ? quoted him as saying RIA " Novosti ".
Moscow has stated many times that not privy to the events in the South-East of Ukraine, not a party to domestic conflict and is interested in Ukraine overcame political and economic crisis. In the capital of Russia emphasize that all the charges against her are unproven. Anyway, Kiev and the West continues to blame the Russian Federation in "military aggression" and occasionally "find" in the East of Ukraine and in the border regions of Russia "certain units" of the armed forces of Russia, although international observers in the periodic inspections have never found any undeclared military activities. Since mid-April last year, the Kiev authorities carried out in the East of Ukraine "special operation" to suppress the protest movement in the Donbass. Refers to a large number of dead and wounded among the civilian population and the destruction of houses and infrastructure. From 1 September in the Donbass entered into force another truce. At the end of September was signed the agreement about the withdrawal in the Donbass weapons of a caliber of less than 100 millimeters and tanks from the frontline. This process will occur in stages (first, Lugansk, then Donetsk region).

sections: Politics