Russia has urged the United States to bar foreign mercenaries from the army operation in eastern Ukraine, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov stated.
“We would like the U.S. administration to take effective measures and prevent the involvement of foreign mercenaries in the Kyiv punitive operation against the protesters, people fighting for their rights in southeastern Ukraine,” he said in an interview with Interfax.
“We cannot disregard the constant reports of Western and other media outlets about operations of groups of private security and military companies in Ukraine,” the deputy minister indicated.
“The notorious Greystone (at a later date, Academi) is only the best known logo of the kind. Judging by the reports from various forces, we are dealing not only with this structure smirched by being a mercenary in many conflicts but also with some others, including [companies] from Eastern Europe, for instance, from Poland,” Ryabkov said.
The U.S. structures operating in Ukraine “are in reality militarized groups employing well trained personnel with top-notch equipment. These are combat forces employed in special-purpose operations in the full sense of this word,” Ryabkov said.
“Apart from Academi/Greystone, there is also a structure called Cubic Applications International,” he continued.
“We keep telling U.S. colleagues about this. Alas, they are telling us nothing of the sort is happening or can happen, all the refutations have been made and the question should be raised no more. But facts prove differently. I am confident that this issue will remain on the agenda of our dialogue with the United States,” the senior diplomat said.
