Russia calls petition on deploying Western troops to Ukraine ‘extremely defiant provocation’

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Kremlin on Wednesday said that it perceived a petition launched on the Ukrainian presidency’s website on deploying Western troops to the country to be an “extremely defiant provocation.”

“We consider this an extremely defiant provocation, no less. And, of course, we are closely watching this. The Kyiv regime is quite unpredictable,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a press briefing in Moscow.

Peskov reiterated Moscow’s warnings regarding the direct intervention of NATO countries in Ukraine as “potentially carrying enormous dangers.”

On Tuesday, a petition was submitted to the website of the Ukrainian presidency on applying for military assistance to each EU member state, as well as the UK and the US, particularly regarding the deployment of their troops in Ukraine.

The petition has so far received more than 1,600 signatures, and requires 25,000 signatures to be considered by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Peskov also commented on Tuesday’s statement from Ukraine's Security Service (SBU), which claimed it had exposed a network of agents affiliated with Russia’s Federal Security Service who were preparing an assassination attempt against Zelenskyy.

“In general, the information coming from the SBU can hardly be perceived as truthful,” the Kremlin spokesperson said.