You're reading: General denies issue of alleged Russian volunteers in Ukraine raised at Duma committee meeting

Allegations in the media that the status of Russian volunteers who are allegedly fighting in eastern Ukraine was discussed at a closed-door meeting of the Russian State Duma's Defense Committee on Dec. 9 are "outright deceit," the chief of the Russian armed forces general staff said on Dec. 10.

“The Committee on Defense of the State Duma discussed the state of our air force at yesterday’s [Dec. 9] meeting. Not a word was said about events in Ukraine,” General of the Army Valery Gerasimov said at a meeting in Moscow with foreign military attaches.

“But this didn’t prevent sensation-hungry journalists from reporting that the status of volunteers who are fighting on Ukrainian territory was discussed there. That is outright deceit, which is something that’s easy to check in the transcript of the meeting,” Gerasimov said.