PRESS RELEASE
‘Aggressive Russians’ Allow Ukraine Inspectors on Russian Bases
Jan. 16, 2017 (EIRNS)—Vice President Joe Biden was in Kiev today, where he said that "the international community" must stand up against Russian aggression, and urged the incoming Trump Administration to be a strong supporter and partner of Ukraine.
"You’re fighting both the cancer of corruption ... and the unrelenting aggression of the Kremlin," Biden ranted to reporters, with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at his side, reports Reuters.
But if Russia is so "unrelentingly aggressive," why is it allowing Ukrainian inspectors to survey Russian military units in the Rostov region of Russia itself? The head of the Russian National Center for reducing nuclear danger, Sergei Ryzhkov, said that the inspection of Russian military units in the Rostov region, to be held under the Vienna document on confidence-building measures of 2011 from Jan. 16-19, was meant to determine the size or confirm the absence of any military activities there. None of the previous such inspections by Ukraine have shown any evidence of any "Russian aggression" against Ukraine.
"The inspectors can record the presence or absence of personnel, staffing and movement of troops, stockpiles of weapons and ammunition,"
Ryzhkov said. The inspection team will include two Ukrainians as well as Canadian and Danish experts.
A similar inspection of Russian military units by Ukrainian experts in February 2016 revealed
"no military activity by the Russian Armed Forces in the given region and found Russia in full compliance with the provisions of the Vienna accords,"
Ryzhkov said.
