Lavrov: Mercenaries from Kosovo, Bosnia and Albania allegedly being sent to Donbass

Photo: Tanjug/AP

Russia is carefully checking information that suggests mercenaries from so-called Kosovo, as well as Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina are being recruited for deployment in Donbass, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has told RT, reports Sputnik.

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"German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and all other NATO leaders say that the alliance is a defensive one. Russian President Vladimir Putin, at his press conference following the talks with Scholz, reminded him of the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999. Scholz said that NATO intervened to prevent a genocide of Kosovo Albanians, that everything was done successfully and that now this region is flourishing," the minister recalled.

But he noted that the region is "far from flourishing."

"Kosovo and some other parts of the Western Balkans are becoming a breeding ground for crime. There are terrorists, drug dealers. It is a recruiting ground for mercenaries taking part in conflicts which are being gradually fomented, including by the United States. There is information that mercenaries are being recruited in Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and being sent to the Donbass, among other places, in order to knock Russia off balance. We are rechecking this information now," Lavrov said.

Earlier this month, Donbass intelligence reported the presence of British and Polish mercenaries operating near the frontline in eastern Ukraine.

Lavrov went after Western officials for peddling the purported threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, RT writes.

"Obviously, they are doing it out of pure pleasure in order to accuse Moscow," he told RT in an exclusive interview on Friday.

He suggested that Western officials making such claims simply like doing it. “If they enjoy it, let them take their time getting the pleasure,” he said. "I am certain that even casual observers of foreign policy have long confirmed to themselves that all of it is propaganda, fake news, fiction," Lavrov added.

Lavrov called out several high-ranking officials, including British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, for the accusations they are making against Moscow and for inciting public concern over a possible war in Ukraine.

"(They state) that even if Russia withdraws its troops, the threat will still be present. They are setting the stage for the future," he said.

Even after the Russian military exercises end and its troops return to their home bases, their threat will remain "forever," Lavrov noted.

(Telegraf.rs)