The Russian foreign minister has spoken out against the West saying it
is seeking a regime change in Moscow. The conflict in eastern Ukraine
continues to claim lives amid allegations of Russia deploying more
troops.
On Saturday, Russia's top diplomat, Sergei Lavrov, accused the West of seeking a regime in Moscow.
"The West is showing unambiguously that they do not want to force
[Russia] to change policy. They want to achieve a change in regime, " he
said while attending a meeting on foreign and defense policies in
Moscow.
Lavrov was responding to US Vice President Joe Biden's statement in
Ukraine on Friday, hinting at possible further sanctions on Russia in
protest of its role in Ukraine. Both the US and the European Union
imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia this year, affecting the
country's energy, defense and finance sectors.
Following Biden's visit at the beginning of the weekend, Ukraine
received military assistance from the US, which included radars and
other "non-lethal" assistance such as night vision goggles and safety
vests.
NATO refused all kinds of arms and artillery assistance to Ukraine,
despite Kyiv's defense minister, Stepan Poltorak, claiming that Russia
had stationed thousands of troops to Kyiv's east and that "the presence
of 7,500 representatives of
Russian armed forces in Ukraine" destabilized the situation.
The news agency AFP also quoted Ukraine's head of security as saying
that 20 units of Russian military equipment had crossed the border on
Saturday towards Luhansk, a rebel stronghold where fighting in the past
24 hours killed four Ukrainian soldiers and one civilian.
More than 1,000 people have died
in spite of the ceasefire
between Russia and Ukraine came into effect in September. According to
the United Nations, nearly 4,300 people have died since the conflict
began in March this year, including
298 passengers aboard the MH17 which was shot down in July.
mg/kms (AFP, dpa)
