Washington. February 17. INTERFAX - The United States believes that Russia's statements about the withdrawal of troops from the border with Ukraine do not correspond to reality, allegedly Moscow is actually increasing the number of its troops, the Axios portal reported, citing a senior representative of the American administration.
"Yesterday, the Russian government announced that it was withdrawing troops from Ukraine. This statement attracted attention both in the US and around the world. But now we know that this was not true," the official said.
According to him, "we have confirmation that over the past few days Russia has actually increased the presence of troops along the Ukrainian border by as many as 7 thousand people, and some military have arrived quite recently."
The official noted that according to the data available to the United States, Russia "only in words" declares its readiness for diplomacy, but in fact "is preparing for war."
Earlier, the head of British military intelligence, General Jim Hockenhall, made a similar statement.
"We do not see evidence that Russia has withdrawn troops from the borders of Ukraine. Contrary to the allegations, Russia continues to build up its military potential near Ukraine," the British media quoted Hockenhall as saying.
