The Kremlin can restrain militants in Donbas ”in response” to the FSB`s fiction of having ”prevented terrorist attacks,” the Russian daily Vedomosti reported, with reference to a source close to the Russian Defense Ministry.
As noted, another source in a law enforcement agency of the Russian Federation said that the Security Council, as it was officially announced, had decided upon measures to strengthen security on the peninsula, but had not yet agreed upon the ”consequences.” Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Foreign Ministry threatened Kyiv due to the alleged deaths of two Russian servicemen and identification of plans for organizing sabotage in occupied Crimea.
However, according to the source close to the Ministry of Defense of Russia, the option of responding with powerful retaliatory military strikes on Ukraine is not being considered.
Yet, according to a source close to the leadership of the Donetsk People`s Republic (DPR), Moscow can restrain actions by the DPR army. The report added that such deterrence was weakened in the spring of this year.
According to the head of the Russian Council on Foreign Affairs, Andrey Kortunov, Russian statements about responses are designed to be heard by governments in the West.
”It is certainly leverage over the West`s position, if the evidence base is collected. It is an occasion to urge the West to increase pressure on Kyiv, but so far we can see that the West has said there was no evidence and expressed their distrust,” the expert told the Russian edition.
