Russia's accusations that Ukrainian military servicemen and members of the nationalist organization UNA-UNSO could have been involved in the August 2008 conflict in the Caucasus are baseless, Ukrainian Ambassador to Russia and First Deputy Secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Kostiantyn Hryschenko has said.
“I believe this is unacceptable in any circumstances. Why? Because, when an investigation is conducted by an institution like a Prosecutor General’s Office, be it the Russian, the Ukrainian, or some other, it needs to proceed from impeccably proven facts and make them public only when there is enough confidence that they are real facts rather than being driven by some beliefs. There are no such facts. Therefore, this information is untrue,” Hryschenko said in an interview broadcast on the Ukrainian TV channel UT-1 on Tuesday evening.
Hryschenko said he had had several meetings dealing with this problem with high-ranking Russian Foreign Ministry officials on August 24.
The Russian Foreign Ministry website reported earlier that Hryschenko had met with Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov on August 24.
