London. January 12. INTERFAX - Moscow has no intention to invade the territory of Ukraine, Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin said in an interview with Sky News.
"I would say that at the moment and in the foreseeable future (...) we have no intention of doing this (invading Ukraine - IF). This means that we have no intention of doing this at all," Kelin said.
The day before, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in Geneva following talks with the American delegation on security guarantees that Russia had assured its American colleagues that Russia had no plans to "attack" Ukraine, an escalation scenario was excluded.
"We explained to our colleagues that we have no plans, intentions to "attack" Ukraine and cannot be, and all measures for combat training of troops, forces are carried out within our territory, and there is no reason to fear an escalation scenario in this regard," Ryabkov said at a briefing following the talks.
Earlier, the United States, other NATO countries and Ukraine announced the concentration of Russian troops at the Ukrainian border.
On December 9, the chief of the Russian General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, said that Russia was not planning an invasion of Ukraine.
"NATO countries pay excessive attention to the movement of troops on the territory of the Russian Federation. The redeployment of units during combat training is a routine practice for the armed forces of any State. Military activity is carried out on national territory and does not require notification," Gerasimov said at a briefing for foreign military attaches.
