Russia has criticized NATO's Secretary General for a statement he made denying Russian troops withdrawal from the Ukrainian borders. Russia’s comment came on Thursday following NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s posting on his twitter account, claiming he had seen no signs of Russian troops withdrawal from Ukraine's border. On May 7, Russia’s President Putin announced that Moscow has pulled its troops from Ukraine’s border, saying, Russia’s relations with the West are at an all time low since the Cold War over Ukraine. Russia insists it is entitled to defend Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine by sending troops into the troubled region. The Ukrainian crisis began last November when the country’s then president Viktor Yanukovych refrained from signing an Association Agreement with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Russia. The refusal triggered months of unrest and clashes with the police, which finally led to the ouster of Yanukovych on February 23. He then travelled to Russia, where he was given sanctuary.
Rasmussen’s tweet directly contradicts Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement on May 7 that Moscow had withdrawn its troops from the Ukrainian border.“We’re always being told that our forces on the Ukrainian border are a concern. We have withdrawn them.”
Tensions between the Western powers and Moscow heightened after Crimea declared independence from Ukraine and formally applied to become part of the Russian Federation following a referendum in March.
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