The Kremlin stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin told European Council President Charles Michel on Wednesday (November 24) that he was concerned that Kiev’s “provocation” would increase tensions in eastern Ukraine.
The Kremlin issued a statement after a phone call with Putin-Michel, saying: “The Russian President is concerned about the continued provocations of Ukraine in order to exacerbate the situation on the line of contact.”
Putin also pointed out that “it is necessary to end Kiev’s policy of discriminating against Russian-speaking populations, which violates Ukraine’s international obligations.”
At the time of the call, Western countries expressed dissatisfaction with Russia’s military activities near Ukraine, and the United States expressed “real concerns” about the build-up of new troops on the border.
Moscow refuted increasing Western claims that Russia might be preparing to invade Ukraine, accusing NATO of provocation.
After Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula in 2014, Ukrainian forces clashed fiercely with separatists supported by the Kremlin in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Ukraine and its Western allies accused Russia of sending troops and weapons across the border, but Moscow denied these claims.
The West’s worries about Russia’s possible implementation of a new plan in Ukraine have resurfaced, which coincides with the tensions of immigration crisis on the border between Belarus, which is allied with the Kremlin, and Poland, a member of the European Union.
The European Union accused the Kremlin-backed Alexander Lukashenko regime of Belarus for deliberately lure thousands of immigrants to its doorstep in order to report for copying. Some EU countries, including Poland, said that Moscow is behind the crisis.
The Kremlin statement stated that on Wednesday, Putin urged the EU and Belarus to begin “systematic cooperation” to resolve the crisis, and told Michel that the plan to impose new sanctions on Minsk was counterproductive.
The Kremlin added that Putin expressed the hope that Michel “will cooperate with Poland to prevent violence against immigrants” and warned against any actions that would escalate the situation.
The Kremlin said that the Russian president also mentioned that the Polish army used “water cannons, tear gas, stun grenades and other special equipment” on refugees.
