How princes dressed in Rus'. Varieties of Russian national clothing, motifs in modern costume. Men's costume of Moscow Rus'
According to Ukrainian data, there are several thousand Russians in the ATO, but only 39 people were captured.
The war in Donbass continues for the third year.
During this time, Ukraine has repeatedly announced the massive participation of many thousands of Russian military personnel in hostilities.
However, according to yesterday's data from Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko, only 39 Russian citizens are currently under investigation, and six are behind bars. The trials took place behind the scenes, without the involvement of the media.
At the same time, there are tens, if not hundreds of times more Ukrainians detained for working in the LDPR.
Korrespondent.net decided to collect all versions of Russian participation in the ATO.
Ukrainian data
The Ukrainian side has repeatedly provided confirmation of the participation of the Russian military in hostilities in the Donbass: from Pskov paratroopers to the detention of special forces.
At the same time, data on the number of Russian military personnel stationed in Donbass constantly varies.
In June 2015, President Petro Poroshenko said that there were 200 thousand Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine.
“Today, by order of Putin, there are 200 thousand people on our territory, equipped with an arsenal of tanks and anti-aircraft missile launch systems. One of them shot down a civilian airliner from Malaysia last year."“Corriere della Sera quotes Mr. Poroshenko.
In April 2016, Poroshenko already stated that there were 6,000 professional Russian military personnel and a 40,000-strong army of militants in the combat zone in Donbass.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the number of Russians fighting for the LDPR is about 8,000 people from the 34,000-strong separatist army.
Western opinion
OSCE is the main international organization, which monitors the situation in the ATO zone, has never announced the presence of Russian personnel units in the Donbass.
Secretary General Lamberto Zannier's organization stated that the presence of regular Russian army units in Ukraine is "difficult to confirm."
“There have always been Russian citizens there, perhaps coming there for some reason, entering the region and supporting the separatists. We have evidence of people coming privately - we ourselves met with them and talked. However, are there any other Russian military units […] - this is more difficult to demonstrate", Zannier said.
But the United States, which does not participate in the Minsk and Normandy formats, has always been more categorical.
"Russian military and equipment are still in the Donbass. Russia bears direct responsibility for the implementation of the Minsk agreements", said American diplomat John Tefft.
US Ambassador to the OSCE Daniel Baer announced the continued supply of Russian weapons to Donbass.
“Russia shows no signs of stopping its aggression; on the contrary, it increased the intensity of violence.”, he emphasized.
Russian response
In April 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that there were no Russian troops in Ukraine.
“When asked whether there are our troops in Ukraine or not, I say directly and definitely: there are no Russian troops in Ukraine.”, - Putin replied.
At his press conference in December 2015, Putin noted that there are no regular Russian troops in Ukraine, but admitted that there are people there “solving military issues.”
“We never said that there are no people there who are involved in resolving certain issues in the military sphere, but this does not mean that regular Russian troops are present there, feel the difference.”, Putin said.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov always denied everything.
“We see that the Ukrainian side is now trying to justify its inability to fulfill what it signed up for by citing the difficult security situation, the “mythical” presence of Russian troops - which has never been confirmed or proven by anyone. The launched “disinformation” floats in the media space, as we can see today", says Lavrov.
What's up
39 Russian citizens have been brought to criminal responsibility for starting a war against Ukraine, six of whom have already received prison sentences. Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko stated this.
"In total, at the moment, they have been brought to criminal responsibility for participation in unleashing and conducting aggressive war 39 citizens against Ukraine Russian Federation, of which 31 are military personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Indictments against 10 citizens of the Russian Federation have been sent to the court, 6 of whom have already been sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 11 to 15 years.", said the Prosecutor General.
The Prosecutor General's Office also notified 18 representatives of the government and leadership of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, including Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation Sergei Glazyev and Head of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Sergei Shoigu, of suspicion of committing crimes against the fundamentals of Ukraine's national security.
