Russian Missile Drills Linked to NATO Threat of Troop Deployment to Ukraine - Kremlin

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Statements by the French President, UK officials and a representative of the US Senate about their readiness and intention to send military personnel to Ukraine require special attention and special measures, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, commenting on military drills announced by the Russian Defense Ministry.

“Actually, this is stated exhaustively in the statement of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. There is nothing to add there. If you ask me what statements of Western representatives we are talking about, it is obvious that we are talking about the statement of Mr Macron and the statement of the British representatives. You you know, they also added a representative of the US Senate, if I’m not mistaken, who spoke of readiness and even intention to send armed contingents to Ukraine, that is, to actually expose NATO soldiers to the Russian military,” Peskov said in response to a question on whether the announced exercises were connected to the threats.

"They require special attention and special measures," he added.

Earlier in the day, the ministry said that the General Staff of the Russian armed forces had started preparations for holding exercises in the near future with missile units of the Southern Military District, involving aviation, as well as naval forces, in order to increase the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to carry out combat missions. During the exercises, the Russian armed forces will practice a set of activities for the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons, the ministry said.

At the same time, the Kremlin spokesman noted that information that France will allegedly send soldiers to Ukraine requires verification.

Stephen Bryan, the former assistant to the US deputy secretary of defense, said in an interview with foreign media earlier this month that France had sent soldiers of the Foreign Legion to Ukraine.

The rhetoric of Paris and London regarding the possibility of sending soldiers to Ukraine is dangerous, the official added.

Speaking about the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR)'s report that the US takes measures to replace Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, Peskov said it is to early to comment on them.

"Now, it is premature to talk about this, at this stage I suggest contacting our colleagues from the Foreign Intelligence Service for clarification," Peskov told reporters.

Earlier in the say, the SVR said that Washington had activated efforts to search for an alternative to Zelenskyy.