At the same time, the Federation Council declares that the Russian Federation has no intentions to conduct a military operation against Ukraine

28 December 2021


Konstantin Kosachev, Russian diplomat
Kommersant

Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev said that Russia does not intend to initiate a military operation against Ukraine, but has the right to promptly use its armed forces to protect Russian citizens abroad in the event of an attack on them as Interfax reported.

"No, and again no, Russia is not hatching plans of its own free will to carry out a military operation against Ukraine," Kosachev said.

In his opinion, there is no point in conducting "some kind of proactive military operation against Ukraine."

“Russia has never attacked anyone first. I think that this will not happen in the future,” the senator said.

Related: Level of threat increased: Ukraine’s Foreign Minister about risk of full-scale Russian invasion

At the same time, he noted, Russia sees how the situation around Donbas is escalating, "how Ukraine is being pushed to try to solve the problems of the South-East by military means."

According to him, one of the grounds on which the Russian Armed Forces can be operatively used abroad is the "protection of Russian citizens" outside its territory in the event of an armed attack on them.

On December 25, more than 10,000 Russian troops were returning to their permanent bases after month-long drills near Ukraine.

At the same time, Bloomberg reported that Russia keeps on amassing the military forces next to the Ukrainian border. According to this data, in November, the Russian command brought tanks, artillery and anti-aircraft defense units to the regions adjacent to the border with Ukraine.