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Merkel tells Putin to pull back troops as Kremlin accuses Ukraine of provocations
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday to pull back the Kremlin’s military build-up near the border with Ukraine, while he in turn accused Kyiv of “provocative actions” in the conflict region.
Ukraine has raised the alarm over an increase in Russian forces near its eastern border as violence has risen along the line of contact separating its troops from Russian-backed separatists in its Donbass region.
“The Chancellor demanded that this build-up be unwound in order to de-escalate the situation,” Germany’s government said in a readout of a telephone call between Merkel and Putin.
Russia has said its forces pose no threat and are defensive, but they would stay there as long as Moscow saw fit.
The Kremlin dismissed a Ukrainian accusation that the build-up was intended to distract from domestic issues, including jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, ahead of September parliamentary elections.
“This has nothing to do with any detainees or anyone,” Dmitry Peskov told Reuters. Russia has to react with caution when it has “such a restless region as Ukraine near our borders with the potential for renewed hostilities”, he added.
‘FORCED TO DEFEND’
A senior Kremlin official said on Thursday that Moscow could under certain circumstances be forced to defend its citizens in Donbass and that major hostilities could mark the beginning of the end of Ukraine as a country.
The Kremlin said in its readout of the Merkel phone call that “Vladimir Putin noted provocative actions by Kyiv which is deliberately inflaming the situation along the line of contact.”
For goodness sake, Frau Merkel, stop ‘sticking your nose’ into Russia’s business, especially since Germany now seems so DESPERATE to obtain / produce the SPUTNIK vaccine !
There is little doubt that your retirement from German domestic politics will be followed by a career in the European Commission.
Heaven help the citizens of Europe ……
I bet Putin is laughing at that old dried up hag Merkel. The E.U, NATO and The US will get their backsides chewed royally if they even think about engaging Russia in a military conflict og the United States and the North Atlantic Terrorist Organization. Russia has every right to defend the ethnic Russians whom voted overwhelmingly to leave the Ukraine in a referendum. The Ukraine better shut their mouth and quit while they are only minus a portion of territory. If the Ukraine and the American idiots and puppets attack Russian, Soon the Russian Border will be on the border of Hungary and Ukraine will be nothing but ruble, craters and radioactive wasteland. Is that really what is in the best intrest of Hungary?