Federation Council rules out use of Russian armed forces in Ukraine

Russia has never used its armed forces in southeast Ukraine and has no intention of doing so in the future, Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council (the upper house of Russia’s parliament) Konstantin Kosachev said in a live broadcast on the Rossiya-24 TV network on Monday.

"No one recalls the entire modern history of international relations, in which Russia has never attacked anyone. Russia has never used its armed forces to seize foreign territory <...> in the case of Crimea and the southeast of Ukraine, the Russian Armed Forces in principle were not used and, naturally, will never be used," the senior senator said.

As for the use of the Russian Armed Forces, as was the case with Georgia in 2008, "this was an operation to compel it to peace," he pointed out.