Russia says 'errors' in ruling revealing troops in Ukraine


MOSCOW — Russia said on Thursday that court documents, which inadvertently revealed its troops are stationed in separatist-held regions of Ukraine, contained "errors" and denied its military had crossed Ukraine's borders.

Kiev and its allies in the West say Russia is supporting breakaway fighters in the east of the country in a conflict that has cost more than 13,000 lives and strained Moscow's ties with the US and Europe to breaking point. Russia denies providing military support.

But a court in the southern Rostov region this month published a ruling online in a case where the defendant testified he was responsible for supplying food to Russian troops in eastern Ukraine.

The court verdict read that every two weeks a column of 70 trucks carrying supplies would be dispatched to eastern Ukraine to bring food to Russian troops stationed there.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman told reporters on Thursday that the text likely contained an error.

"Maybe we are talking about a mistake by someone who wrote the document, because this is impossible," Dmitry Peskov said.

"There have never been any Russian forces on the territory of the self-proclaimed republics."

He added however that Russia has been sending humanitarian aid to the separatist statelets on a regular basis.

According to the court document, supplies were sent to eastern Ukraine in 2018 and 2019.

"The supplies were intended to be sent to military units of the armed forces of the Russian Federation deployed in the DPR and LPR," the conviction read, referring to two breakaway regions.

'Confession' 

The defendant - identified as V.N. Zabaluyev -- served as deputy regional manager for military food supplies at a local company and was sentenced to five years in prison for bribing officials in 2019.

Later Thursday, the Rostov courts press service issued a statement saying the local court that collected Zabaluyev's testimony had not verified it.

"This was not the subject of the legal proceedings," the statement said, adding that "the court did not and could not verify this part of the testimony".

The revelation comes at a tense time in the conflict, with Russia accused of massing around 100,000 troops near Ukraine, raising new fears in the West of a possible invasion.

Kiev said the court had "confessed" Russia's military presence in Ukraine.

Its Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko told AFP that the ruling disproves Russia's position that the conflict in eastern Ukraine is internal.

"Russia has by itself created a legal precedent that clearly fixates its status as a party to an international armed conflict," Nikolenko said.