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Russia Orders New Military Exercises: Responding to deadly violence and "crimes" in eastern Ukraine, which Russia blames on the government in Kiev and also blames on the United States and Europe."
Russia's defense minister suggested these new Russian military movements east, northeast and north of Ukraine were part of what was necessary to stop Kiev from using Ukrainian military forces against "protestors" in eastern Ukraine:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27138300BBC on Thursday April 24th, 2014, 11:38 AM EDT wrote:
Russia has ordered new military exercises on its border with Ukraine in response to an operation by Kiev against pro-Russian separatists.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Moscow had been "forced to react" after Ukrainian commandos moved on the separatist stronghold of Sloviansk.
( Russian Defense Minister ) Mr Shoigu was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying: "If this military machine (Kiev government's military force in eastern Ukraine) is not stopped, it will lead to greater numbers of dead and wounded.
"We are forced to react to such a development of the situation."
President Vladimir Putin had earlier warned Ukraine of "consequences".
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/wor ... e18181946/Rueters on Thursday, April 24, 2014 at 11:09 AM ET wrote:
Russia started military drills near the Ukrainian border on Thursday in response to operations by Ukrainian forces against pro-Russian separatists and NATO exercises in Eastern Europe, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
“If this military machine is not stopped, it will lead to greater numbers of dead and wounded. Planned exercises by NATO forces in Poland and the Baltic countries do not foster normalization of the situation surrounding Ukraine, either,” Shoigu was quoted as saying. “We are forced to react to such a development of the situation.”
Earlier, in St Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that if the authorities in Kiev used the army in eastern Ukraine, it would be a very serious crime against its own people, and spoke of “consequences.”