KIEV/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Ukraine’s military said its two-day missile drill starting on Thursday would avoid the airspace over Crimea, sidestepping a possible confrontation with Russia which annexed the peninsula in 2014.

Ukrainian OTR-21 Tochka-U mobile missile launch systems drive during Ukraine's Independence Day military parade in central Kiev, Ukraine, August 24, 2016. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

News of the tests had angered the Kremlin, prompting it to put its air defense forces on high alert and maneuver warships in the Black Sea.

The disagreement marked a fresh escalation in tensions between the neighbors and one-time allies, whose relations collapsed after Russia seized Crimea and backed pro-Russian separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine.

Volodymyr Kryzhanovsky, a Ukrainian military official, said the exercises, which are taking place in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region bordering Crimea, were being carried out in accordance with international law.

The exercises were taking place at least 30 km (18 miles) from Crimea’s air space, “therefore it would be wrong to reproach Ukraine,” he told the 112 TV channel.

Moscow initially responded to the test plans by putting its land-based and ship-borne air defense forces in Crimea on higher alert and a Russian military source accused Ukraine of trying to create a “nervous situation.”

On Thursday Russia’s federal aviation agency, Rosaviatsia, said in a statement that it had received new coordinates for the tests that meant the “danger zone reserved for missile launches does not now affect the air space over Russian territorial waters.”

Ukraine says the aim of the tests is to bolster its defense capabilities.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that he did not know whether President Vladimir Putin had ordered the defense ministry to prepare a potential military response to the Ukrainian tests.

He was responding to a question about Ukrainian media reports which said that the Russian Defence Ministry had told Ukraine’s military envoy that Moscow would shoot down any missiles and destroy their launchers if Kiev test-fired missiles in the air space near Crimea.

“In the Kremlin we wouldn’t want to see any actions by the Ukrainian side that breached international law and that might create dangerous conditions for international flights over the territory of Russia and adjacent regions,” said Peskov.

Kryzhanovsky said the Ukrainian military was ready for “any developments”.

Russia held large-scale war games across its southern military district in September, including Crimea.</s>The disagreement marks a fresh escalation in tensions between the one-time allies, whose relations collapsed in 2014 after Russia seized Crimea and backed pro-Russian separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine says the tests in its southern Kherson region, bordering Crimea, are legitimate and will be conducted within the framework of international obligations and treaties.

"We will continue to strengthen the defense capability of our nation and continue missile tests and training," the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, Oleksander Turchynov, said on Wednesday.

Russia's defense ministry has accused Ukraine of seeking to create a "nervous situation" and put its land-based and ship-borne air defense forces in Crimea on higher alert in response, Russian media reported.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that he did not know whether President Vladimir Putin had ordered the defense ministry to prepare a potential military response to the Ukrainian tests.

He was responding to a question about Ukrainian media reports which said that the Russian Defence Ministry had told Ukraine's military envoy that Moscow would shoot down any missiles and destroy their launchers if Kiev test-fired missiles in the air space near Crimea.

"In the Kremlin we wouldn't want to see any actions by the Ukrainian side that breached international law and that might create dangerous conditions for international flights over the territory of Russia and adjacent regions," said Peskov.

In September, Russia held large-scale war games across its entire southern military district, including Crimea, which Ukraine and most of the international community say it illegally annexed in March 2014 after street protests toppled a pro-Moscow Ukrainian president.</s>The drills involve the test firing of medium-range surface-to-air missiles, the news agency said.

"Everything goes according to the plan. There is no response from the Russian Federation. Ukrainian military are ready for any developments," Ukrinform cited military spokesman Volodymyr Kryzhanivsky as saying on Ukrainian TV.

Kryzhanivsky reportedly said the drills in southern Ukraine did not pose any threat to Crimea and that Ukraine was acting in accordance with international law.

Russian Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov said Russia would evaluate its response to the drills, Russia's state-run Tass news agency reported.

The transport ministry, Rosaviatsiya, said last week that the planned missile launches were in violation of international agreements and warned they could pose a threat to flights in civil airspace above Crimea, Russia's state-run Sputnik News reported. Poroshenko: 'No one will stop us' Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said more missiles would be launched Friday, Tass reported. "Our task is to build the air defense of Kiev and the whole of Ukraine. And no one will stop us," he is quoted as saying. Russia annexed Crimea, a territory in the former Soviet republic of Ukraine, in March 2014 following tensions with its neighbor. Why is there renewed tension in Ukraine? World leaders managed to install a shaky peace deal in 2015. But violence continues in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine, and 2016 has seen an increase in casualties. According to the United Nations, the conflict has claimed almost 10,000 lives and left hundreds of thousands displaced. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in October that NATO's support for Ukraine was "unwavering" and that it did not and would not recognize Russia's "illegal annexation" of Crimea.</s>Russian air defense forces in Crimea have been placed on high alert on the eve of planned Ukrainian missile tests near the Black Sea peninsula, the TASS news agency cited a Crimean military source as saying on Wednesday.

Moscow has protested against the plans to carry out the tests near Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Ukraine says the tests, slated for Dec. 1 and 2, are legitimate and will be conducted within the framework of international obligations and treaties.

"Ukraine's firing exercises are a kind of public relations ploy aimed at creating a nervous situation, but in any case the military perceive this as a real and potential threat and Russian air defense forces in Crimea have therefore been placed on a higher state of alert," the source told TASS.

"This refers not only to ground-based units, but also to ship borne air defense forces as the ships of the Black Sea Fleet can independently repel such threats," the source said.</s>Kiev began two days of missile tests on Thursday, angering Russia, which has put its air defense forces on high alert saying it hopes the war games won't disrupt international flights.

"Warships of the Black Sea Fleet ... have taken up positions near Crimea's western coast for the duration of Ukraine's planned missile tests from Dec. 1-2," a military source in Crimea told RIA.

"The ship's air defense units have been put on a higher state of alert. Their equipment is designed in the first instance to shoot down heavy anti-ship missiles and cruise missiles. Together with land-based air defense units on the peninsula, the ships have thrown up a practically impenetrable shield against the enemy's rockets."

Vladimir Krizhanovsky, a Ukrainian military official, earlier on Thursday told the 112 TV channel that the exercises had begun and that everything was going smoothly.

"The tests are being carried out in accordance with international law," said Krizhanovsky. He said they were taking place at least 30 kilometers (18.64 miles) from Crimean air space. "Therefore it would be wrong to reproach Ukraine," he said.</s>The missiles would come as close as about 18 miles to Crimean airspace, according to a Ukrainian military spokesperson said.

The Ukrainian military said Thursday that Kiev had begun missile launch drills close to the border with Russia-occupied Crimean peninsula, ignoring Moscow’s threats of a retaliatory strike.

“The launches have already begun, so everything is going according to plan,” Vladimir Kryzhanovsky, chief of the southern branch of the Ukrainian military’s press, told Russia’s TASS news agency. He said the missiles would come as close as 30 kilometers, or about 18 miles, to Crimean airspace.

Russian ships from the Black Sea Fleet have reportedly moved to the west of the Crimean peninsula to provide air defense over Russian territory.

However, Ukraine has moved the high-risk zones of its missile launches westward, away from Russia’s territorial waters, a spokesman for the Russian civil aviation authority Rosaviatsiya told reporters.

“The new zones lie over international waters. The territorial waters of Russia are not affected. This zone is within Russian air traffic controllers’ zone of responsibility, but this will not affect flight safety,” he reportedly said.

This incident adds to heightened tensions between the two countries that were once allies. Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and Moscow’s support for separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine led to the collapse of the alliance.

Kiev has maintained that the two-day exercise is legitimate and in accordance with international laws.

“We will continue to strengthen the defense capability of our nation and continue missile tests and training,” the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, Oleksander Turchynov, reportedly said Wednesday.

The Russian defense ministry has accused Ukraine of creating a “nervous situation” and Crimean premier Sergey Aksyonov assured the peninsula’s citizens that the drills posed no threat to them.

“The Armed Forces [of Russia] fully ensure security of Russian citizens, including on the territory of the Crimean Republic. All our flights are performed as scheduled,” Aksyonov said.

He also accused Kiev of attempting “to play dirty tricks,” but added: “This is not dangerous for the life and health of our citizens, everything will be okay.”
• Germany-Led Coalition To Push For New Arms Control Deal With Russia</s>"We want to have a very positive and constructive role to play in our relationship with the United States bilaterally and also what we can do together in the world, including facing the challenge (of) Russia," Dion said in an interview.

Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula in 2014 and its backing of separatist rebels in the country's east have prompted NATO to bolster its military footprint in eastern Europe.

"The NATO policy is deterrence and dialogue. Canada was alone to do deterrence without dialogue and we are correcting that," said Dion.

The Conservative opposition has criticized Dion and the Liberals for re-engaging with Russia, accusing it of "cosying up" to the "Putin regime." Former prime minister Stephen Harper avoided direct contact with Putin at international events during most of his last two years in office, as his government downgraded diplomatic contact.

Dion said after the U.S. election that Canada would maintain sanctions on Russia. Last week, his spokesman Joseph Pickerill told The Canadian Press that Canada's diplomatic re-engagement with Russia did not mean "business as usual."

"The duration of our sanctions are clearly linked to Russia's complete implementation of the Minsk agreements and respect for Ukraine's sovereignty," he said.

On Thursday, European Council President Donald Tusk said it would be hard to preserve the West's unity on Moscow after Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20.

Tusk told a Polish television station that in a recent conversation he had with the president-elect, Trump was more concerned with Britain's decision to leave the European Union after this summer's Brexit vote than he was about Russia.

He said the government's "policy" is not to speculate on what the Trump administration might do once in power.

John Brennan, the director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, was not as reluctant. He told the BBC earlier this week that Trump should be "wary" of Russia's promises and criticized it for its role in helping the Syrian government wage its costly civil war.

Peter Kent, the Conservative foreign affairs critic, said it is too early to say whether Trump will temper his campaign rhetoric on Russia.

"We hope that among the foreign policy experts he engages in his administration there will be cautionary voices urging great care in dealings with Russia," Kent said.

Kent said he is concerned with "the government's muted voice regarding the defenceless civilians of Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria" and its desire to "get to the table with Russia on Arctic issues."

Dion's office took issue with that characterization, noting that Canada recently gathered the support of more than 70 countries to press the UN General Assembly to address the Syrian crisis.</s>Moscow (CNN) Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country is ready to cooperate with the new US administration, as he gave his annual state-of-the-nation address Thursday in Moscow.

His comments come at a time when US-Russian relations have sunk to their lowest point since the Cold War, amid tensions over Syria, Russia's actions in Ukraine and allegations of Russian meddling in the US presidential election.

US President-elect Donald Trump has, however, praised Putin as a firm leader and the pair have indicated they want ties to improve

What's next for US and Russia?

What's next for US and Russia? 01:28

What's next for US and Russia?

"We are prepared to cooperate with the new American administration," said Putin in his address, although he did not mention Trump by name.

"It's important to normalize and begin to develop bilateral relations on an equal and mutually beneficial basis," he said.

"Mutual efforts by Russia and the United States in solving global and regional problems are in the interest of the entire world."

Putin also said he hoped to join the United States to fight the threat of international terrorism.

"We have a common responsibility to ensure international security and stability and strengthening non-proliferation (of nuclear weapons)," he said. "I would like to underscore that attempts to destroy this strategic priority are highly dangerous and could lead to world catastrophe. We cannot forget about that for one second."

In a speech notably devoid of fireworks compared with his previous two state-of-the-nation addresses, the Russian President also said his country was ready to help solve international problems.

"We don't want confrontations with anybody -- we don't see it as necessary," he said. "Unlike our foreign colleagues, we don't look for enemies, we need friends."

But, Putin said, "we will not allow infringements on our interests." Russia will continue to build its future without others telling it what to do, he said.

"Justice, fairness and respect in international affairs -- this is what the trend should be in the 21st century, but sadly these developments in international relationships after the Cold War were wasted," he said.

"We should focus on new tendency of international development even if we have issues in our relationship with some countries, like the United States, which is a bit cold at the moment."

Putin said he was confident that positive dialogue was possible with the European Union.

At the same time, he spoke of Russia's pivot to the east, citing the importance of its relationships with China, India and Japan.

Putin's more measured tone this year may reflect recent polling that indicates a clear majority of Russians want an improvement in relations with the West.

He may also see the arrival of Trump in the White House as a chance to position Russia and the United States as equals on the world stage.

For the first hour of his speech, Putin focused heavily on domestic economic issues, as he praised the Russian people for staying united in the face of "difficult conditions."

Thanks to a program of state help, he said, agriculture is now "a successful industry that feeds the country and goes to international markets."

Putin said the international sanctions imposed after Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 had helped its internal markets grow. He added that the export of agricultural products now contributed more to Russia's economy than the arms trade.

The Russian leader also talked about the need for increased investment in health care, education, technology and science and said it was important that Russia boost its position in the global economy.

Russia needs to strengthen its defense from cyber attacks, he said, "because that is the basis of our future defense and the security of our country."

Over the summer, US intelligence officials accused Russia of meddling in the US presidential election by hacking the Democratic National Committee and releasing emails of Clinton campaign officials.

Trump's relationship with Putin was heavily scrutinized during the campaign.

On Wednesday, Putin told a foreign policy conference in Moscow that he had recently spoken by phone with Trump and that their "opinions coincided" that the relationship between the two nations had to be "straightened out."</s>WARSAW, Poland — Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has urged the European Union to extend sanctions against Russia, which he says continues its armed aggression in eastern Ukraine against international agreements.

Poroshenko was in Poland on Friday for talks and signing deals on strengthening in the and energy sectors.

The visit marked 25 years since Poland became the first nation in the world to recognize an independent Ukraine, which had been a former Soviet republic.

Poroshenko said the EU should decide in January to extend its economic and political sanctions against Russia, which keeps violating the 2014 peace deal to halt hostilities.

On Thursday, European Council President Donald Tusk told the Polish TVN24 station he believes the sanctions against Russia will be extended for another six months.</s>WASHINGTON — Russia's government staunchly denies reports that it tampered in the U.S. election or supported either candidate, but once the results were in, members of President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party didn't hold back.

"It turns out that United Russia won the elections in America," Viktor Nazarov, the governor of Omsk, Russia, declared in a radio interview.

Long before Donald Trump was on the radar of American voters, Russia had seen opportunity in elections around the world. But 2016 presented a unique window.

Motivated by years of crippling economic sanctions and decades of post-Soviet setbacks, the Russians were keener than ever to pounce; the race for the White House, plagued by party infighting, scandal and controversy, was easy bait.

For Putin sanctions relief is a gateway to the ultimate goal of establishing Russia as the political and economic equivalent of the United States. Trump, who has publicly extolled Putin's leadership and called for a tempered approach to U.S.-Russia relations, is a conduit to achieving that.

"It's much more about institutions, not about personalities," said Robert Amsterdam, an international attorney who has a number of high-profile Russian clients. Putin "was seriously impacted by the sanctions because it targeted his closest friends and now they think Trump is going to change that."

U.S. intelligence agencies said in October they are confident that the Russian government hacked the e-mails of American people and institutions, including U.S. political organizations, and handed them over to DCLeaks.com and WikiLeaks for distribution. Hacked Democratic National Committee emails in July prompted the resignation of chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz after they showed the DNC had its thumb on the scale during the primaries, supporting Hillary Clinton over rival Sen. Bernie Sanders.

"Weaponizing information is really about who gets to write the truth, who gets to write the narrative and who benefits from that narrative — and that is incredibly powerful," said Laura Galante, director of intelligence analysis at cybersecurity firm FireEye, Inc.

Russia has sought to put itself on equal footing with the U.S. since the collapse of the Soviet Union, extending its territory where it can, countering U.S. military action and positioning itself as a rival to the world's biggest economy.

But its ambitions suffered a setback in 2014 when the Obama administration authorized sanctions against sectors of the Russian economy, including financial services, energy, mining and defense. It also sanctioned people in Putin's inner circle accused of undermining peace in Ukraine. Add to that falling oil prices and a weak ruble, and Russia's economy was shackled.

The impact has been extensive. Russia's sovereign wealth fund had $87 billion in assets in December 2013, according to the Russian Finance Ministry. As of June 1, it was down to $38 billion, following sell-offs by the Russian government to make up for budget deficits. U.S. trade with Russia tumbled to $23 billion in 2015, from about $34 billion the previous year.

Sanctions that impede Russia's ability to acquire equipment for Arctic offshore drilling are of particular concern, since they hold the key to Russia's rapid expansion in that sector.

"Lifting restrictions on exports of technology, software, things that really help their energy industry extract oil and gas" would be the top priority, said Boris Zilberman, a Russia expert at the Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

"Production is dwindling over time, so they're going into new, offshore, deep-water drilling in the Arctic and so on, and to do that, they really need western technology," he said.

Sanctions relief is important to Russia's broader objective of superpower status, shown by its bullish Syria policy. Syria's Russian-backed military appeared close to seizing total control of Aleppo this week, leaving the U.S. at a loss as it seeks a solution to the conflict. While Moscow and Washington are continuously at odds over Syria, the Obama administration has not imposed any Syria-related sanctions.

Trump's promise of closer cooperation with Russia has created worries that the U.S. will have diminished leverage. He said during the campaign that under his leadership the U.S. might not come to the defense of some NATO members if Russia were to attack them, saying he'd decide based on whether those Baltic republics "have fulfilled their obligations to us."

But Trump's positions are hard to assess since he's often stepped away from his more controversial proposals. Trump's choice as defense secretary, retired Gen. James Mattis, has called Russia's aggression in Ukraine a problem "much more severe, more serious" than Washington and the European Union are treating it.

Putin and Trump spoke soon after his victory and a statement from Trump's transition team said the President-elect told Putin he looked forward to "a strong and enduring relationship." Observers caution that Putin's interests are self-motivated and that Russia's incentive to interfere in U.S. politics won't go away with Trump's victory.

"It's not that Putin is against the Democratic party. He's more against the United States and (for) whatever may push Russian interests," said Zilberman. "There's nothing saying that next time they won't hack Republicans and expose Trump administration emails if it benefits them."

Associated Press writers James Heintz and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.
Ukraine starts a missile test near Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, while Russia puts its air-defense and naval forces in the region on high alert.