MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/. A possibility of deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine exists, the Russian Ambassador to NATO, Alexander Grushko said on Friday during a televised linkup.
“The case is not how long the process /of accession/ will be,” he said. “We know NATO puts forward certain criteria that should be complied with, like the absence of internal conflicts or territorial disputes with neighboring countries.”
“But we also know that the procedure can be shortened if NATO takes a political decision on it,” Grushko said.
“As for a possibility of deployment of foreign troops, it does exist and we know Ukraine hosted a number of war games involving foreign armaments and army servicemen after the tragic events all of us had witnessed,” he said.
The diplomat also said NATO misuses the situation in Ukraine to justify its military preparations, but Russia is taking the necessary steps in response to the intensified military activity on the part of NATO.
“That’s a deplorable tendency and it cannot but alarm us,” he said. “We’re watching it closely and are already taking the appropriate measures on our side.”.