Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned that Ukraine is planning a provocation on the border with Crimea during the last ten days of December. “Russia will respond to Ukraine, if Kiev carries out the provocation,” he said on Russian State media outlet Tass.
Lavrov vowed Russia will not wage war against Ukraine, but would respond in kind if Kiev carries out a provocation on the border with Crimea.
He stressed that Ukraine’s domestic problems were "much broader and deeper" than the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics (DPR, LPR). That’s why Russia cannot just recognize the DPR and LPR, as that would be tantamount to leaving the rest of Ukraine in the hands of the Nazi regime.
"You want to recognize the LPR and DPR? And what’s next? To lose the rest of Ukraine and abandon it to the Nazis?" he said, asked why Russia does not recognize these republics.