Moscow protested
against Ukraine's plans to carry out missile tests near Crimea, which Russia
annexed in 2014 following the toppling of a pro-Russian Ukrainian president,
raising the temperature in the dispute between the two countries.
Russian aviation
agency Rosaviatsia said late on Friday it has received a notification from
Ukraine on missile tests in "Russia's sovereign air space" on
December 1 and 2 in the region of Simferopol in Crimea.
Russia's Defence
Ministry handed over a protest note to the Ukrainian defense attache, while
Oleksander Turchinov, Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council
Secretary, dismissed Moscow's claims that Kiev had breached international
agreements.
"Ukraine
carries out the missile tests within the framework of all the international
obligations and treaties. That's why we ask Russia not to hinder the tests by
its hysterics and provocations," he said in a statement on his official
website.
Western nations took
punitive measures against Russian individuals close to President Vladimir Putin
and imposed sanctions, such as limiting access to debt markets, against leading
Russian companies after the annexation of Crimea.
Ukraine's planned
missile tests come against a backdrop of Moscow is building up its military
presence in Crimea.
Reuters
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