MOSCOW. Dec 17 (Interfax) - If Ukraine resorts provocations at the border with Crimea, Moscow is prepared to offer a resolute response, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
Ukrainian President Petro "Poroshenko said he won't extend martial law unless there is some provocation on the contact line in Donbas or at the administrative border with Crimea. We have some information, of which our official representative Maria Zakharova has said repeatedly, that the Ukrainian military has concentrated about 19,000 troops and a large amount of hardware at the contact line and that UK and U.S. instructors are assisting it in that," Lavrov said in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda.
"Some new information we have received, which we are inclined to trust, indicates that Poroshenko plans an act of provocation at the border with the Russian Federation for the end of December. He will face a response he won't find funny, our country is our borders. We won't allow him to try to pursue some interests of his and violate the rights the Crimeans defended in full compliance with international law," Lavrov said.
"According to our information, they are discussing provocation at the border with Crimea with their Western supervisors," he said.