Russia denied Western accusations of its military involvement in the eastern Ukraine conflict, and spoke of contacts at the highest level with Washington, at a time when pro-Moscow separatists accused Kiev of preparing for military action against them.
The spokesman for the Russian presidency (Kremlin), Dmitry Peskov, said today, Monday, that the Russian army is moving in the country as it sees fit, and that its movements do not pose a threat to any party.
Commenting on reports that Russian military units are moving near the border with Ukraine with camouflaged metal plates, Peskov denied Russia's participation in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, indicating that Moscow and other European capitals do not want to rekindle the war in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. .
The Russian spokesman stressed the need for Russian forces to remain alert due to the escalation of military activity by NATO and other countries along the borders with Russia.
Al-Jazeera correspondent Ayman Dargami said that the statements of the Russian presidential spokesman seem to be an attempt to dispel the mounting fears in Ukraine and many Western countries of Russian military moves near Ukraine over the past two weeks.
For its part, the Russian Foreign Ministry said today that there are contacts at the highest levels with Washington regarding Ukraine.
The ministry added that Russia assured the US side that there are no reasons for Washington to be concerned about the situation in Ukraine.
After the escalation of violence in eastern Ukraine in the past few weeks after a lull that lasted for many months, NATO expressed last week its concern about what it said were large Russian military reinforcements on Russia's western border with Ukraine.
Separatists accuse Kiev
For his part, Denis Pushilin, head of what is known as the Donetsk People's Republic formed by separatists in eastern Ukraine, accused the Kiev government of continuing to build its military forces on the lines of contact in the Donbas region, and refused to implement the Minsk agreements.
In statements made today, Pushilin said that the Ukrainian forces increased the pace of bombing Donetsk province early this year, and that it was ready to escalate the armed conflict in the east of the country, pending whether or not an order to launch the military operation would be issued, as he put it.
The separatist leader also condemned what he called Ukraine’s refusal to implement the Minsk ceasefire agreements, stressing the commitment of his republic, which no one has recognized, to implement those agreements and not to escalate the conflict.
The Ukrainian government has accused the separatists of escalating violence against its forces stationed in contact lines near Donetsk city, noting that many of its soldiers were killed and wounded in recent times.
Kiev also accused Russian forces of bombing many Ukrainian military sites in the Donbas region, and the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense spoke of "officially starting the war", announcing at the same time that joint maneuvers would be held with NATO within months.
Al-Jazeera correspondent Elias Karam said that Ukraine seeks during this period to support the United States and European countries in confronting what they consider hostile acts against them by Russia.
And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed a few days ago that US President Joe Biden had promised him during a phone call between them that he would not leave Ukraine alone in the face of what he called Russian aggression.
It is noteworthy that the conflict in eastern Ukraine broke out in 2014 between Ukrainian forces and the separatists supported by Russia, which included during the same year the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, and the confrontations have since killed about 14 thousand people.