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The meeting expressed Lithuania’s deep concern over the mobilization of Russian troops on the borders of Ukraine and in illegally annexed Crimea, attempts to poison and illegally detain Russian opponent Alexei Navalna, aggressive and harmful Russian activities and unacceptable behavior by The United States in the international arena, including cyberattacks, elections, and funding activities against US troops in Afghanistan, ”the ministry said.
Ukraine accuses Russia of mobilizing thousands of troops along the eastern border, including in annexed Crimea. Reports of the mobilization came after bloody clashes with Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Moscow, for its part, says it has deployed troops along its western border to conduct exercises in response to the threat of NATO action.
The White House reported last week that more Russian troops have been deployed near the Ukrainian border than at any time since 2014, when conflict broke out after Moscow occupied the Crimean peninsula.
Ukraine has been fighting pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country since 2014, when Moscow annexed Crimea.
Kiev and the West accuse Russia of supporting the separatists with troops and weapons. Moscow denies the allegations.
Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian Foreign Ministers Gabrielius Landsbergis, Edgaras Rinkevičius and Eva-Maria Liymets visited Kiev on Thursday to show solidarity in the face of rising tensions with Russia.
Among other things, the United States announced economic sanctions against Russia on Thursday and said it would send 10 Russian diplomats to intervene in US elections, major cyberattacks and other hostile activities.
A little later, Poland took a similar step, announcing the expulsion of three Russian diplomats for “hostile actions” from Moscow, according to Warsaw.
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