France says no indication for now that Russia ready to take action in Ukraine
There are no indications at this stage to suggest that Russia is ready to take action in Ukraine, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told France 2 Television on Wednesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West on Tuesday of deliberately creating a scenario designed to lure it into war and ignoring Russia’s security concerns over Ukraine.
Russia has gathered tens of thousands of troops near its border with Ukraine but has denied plans to invade Ukraine.
Nearly eight years after Russia seized Crimea and backed separatist fighters in Donbass in eastern Ukraine, the former Soviet republic has become the flashpoint in potentially the most dangerous East-West confrontation since the Cold War.
Reporting by John Irish; Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta
A file photo of Russian tanks of the T-90 series and selfpropelled howitzer ‘Msta’ (C) on the airfield of the Zhukovsky flight research institute, outside Moscow, Russia. EPA/SERGEI CHIRIKOV
