MOSCOW, April 16 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s stand on Ukraine is sound and consistent but runs into the ‘concrete wall’ of Western censorship, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.
“Those explanations do not pass, not because they are ungrounded, on the contrary, Russia’s position is consistent and sound, but they do not pass because they run into the coarse concrete wall of censorship,” Peskov said.
Moscow has described the uprising in Kiev as an illegitimate fascist coup and a military seizure of power, which resulted in it taking steps to protect ethnic Russians in Ukraine, including the reunification of Crimea.
The move was heavily criticized by the US and EU, who imposed targeted sanctions against several Russian officials and suspended cooperation in certain areas.
On Tuesday, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen once again urged Russia to pull back its troops from the border with Ukraine. In earlier statements, Rasmussen suggested pro-federalization rallies that have been sweeping across eastern Ukraine were staged by pro-Russian separatists.
Peskov also slammed the West for its reluctance to listen to Russia’s confirmation that it has no troops in Ukraine.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded on Monday, saying that Russia was not meddling with Ukraine’s internal affairs.
