Since the current crisis began in eastern Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly denied that Moscow has a hand in events there. The Kremlin strives to portray the actions of pro-Russian insurgents as a purely local response to simmering grievance.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
Foreign Policy: The Kremlin’s faux ‘freedom fighters’
Ukrainian special forces take position in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk on April 24, 2014. Ukraine's military launched an assault on the flashpoint rebel-held town of Slavyansk, sending in armoured vehicles and a helicopter, AFP journalists in the town reported. Several armoured personnel carriers drove past an abandoned rebel roadblock in flames to take up position at the entry to the town. AFP PHOTO/KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV
