You're reading: Kyiv sends protest note to Russia due to border trespass by armed people

 Ukraine's Foreign Ministry has handed a note of protest to Russian Minister-Counselor to Ukraine Andrei Vorobyov in connection with a recent attempt by a convoy of vehicles carrying armed people to cross the Ukrainian border from the Russian side.

 “Ukraine has expressed its strong protest against inaction of Russian state agencies, particularly the border service,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s information policy department said on Tuesday.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry views the incident as “a gross violation” of the 1997 Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, the Statute of the United Nations, UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/68/262 “The Territorial Integrity of Ukraine,” and the Geneva Statement on Ukraine dated April 17, 2014.

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) border department for the Rostov region earlier officially denied the Ukrainian border service’s report alleging that vehicles carrying weapons and armed people had crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border.

As was reported, at around 3:30 am Kyiv time on Tuesday, the Ukrainian border guards spotted a convoy of several trucks, cars and minibuses that were moving from the direction of Russia toward the state border of Ukraine. At 3:40 am Kyiv time, the convoy crossed the state border, where it encountered armed resistance on the part of the border guard unit. A gun battle ensued. Some of the trespassers, having left a covering group behind, still managed to cross into Ukraine in the direction of the town of Antratsyt.

As a result of the armed clash, the border guards seriously injured one person and damaged and seized one minibus and two cars. The seized vehicles were filled with Kalashnikov assault rifles, hand-held grenade launchers and explosives.