Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu attend a meeting while visiting the airborne troops school in the city of Ryazan on November 15, 2013. Alexei Nikolsky, RIA-Novosti, Presidential Press Service/AP
Russians Tell Hagel 'No Intention' of Crossing Into Ukraine
Secretary Hagel and Sergei Shoygu, in phone call, say neither intends to march into eastern Ukraine, said Pentagon spokesman. By Ben Watson
Russia’s defense minister told Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel that Russian troops will not march further into Ukraine, during a nearly hour-long telephone conversation on Thursday.
Hagel called on Sergei Shoygu to get his counterpart to “explain Russian intentions with respect to forces they have aligned near Ukraine’s eastern and southern borders,” said Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby.
Shoygu assured Hagel that despite appearances and a great deal of speculation about Russia’s recent annexation of the Crimean peninsula, Russian troops are along the border “to conduct exercises only, that they had no intention of crossing the border into Ukraine, and that they would take no aggressive action.”
President Barack Obama told NBC affiliate KNSD in San Diego, on Wednesday, “We are not going to be getting into a military excursion in Ukraine.”
“Because Russian forces are in control of Crimea, they bear responsibility for what is happening there,” Kirby said Thursday at the Pentagon. Hagel’s Russian counterpart did not provide any “firm timetable” regarding the duration of Russia’s exercises along Ukraine’s border.
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