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 Kiev accused Russian regular forces of attacking its troops in
eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, one of its boldest assertions yet of
direct Russian military involvement in the conflict between
pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow had seen no
evidence to back up such accusations and others made in the past few
months.
"I say every time: if you allege this so confidently, present the
facts. But nobody can present the facts, or doesn't want to - which
it is, I don't know," he told a news conference when asked about the
accusations.
"So before demanding from us that we stop doing something, please
present proof that we have done it."
 Lavrov did, however, acknowledge that the pro-Russian separatists in
eastern Ukraine hold more territory than assigned to them under a
ceasefire agreement reached last September.
He said Russia had received assurances from the separatists that
they would retreat to the separation lines agreed last September in
the Belarussian capital, Minsk.
Kiev accused the separatists on Tuesday of seizing more than 500
square km (194 square miles) of territory beyond the agreed
separation lines.
Lavrov said the conflict in east Ukraine had to be solved with
respect for the country's integrity, underlining Moscow's support
for the two separatist-controlled regions in the east to remain in
Ukraine but with more autonomy.
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He expressed hope that talks in Berlin later on Wednesday involving
Lavrov, the Ukrainian, French and German foreign ministers would
make progress towards holding a summit of their countries' leaders
on the crisis.
"We hope the contacts to be held in a foreseeable future at various
levels and in various formats will help move ahead in this
direction," he said.
(Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, Lidia Kelly and Thomas Grove,
Writing by Timothy Heritage, editing by Elizabeth Piper)
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