Russia protests Ukraine's missile training over Crimea
MOSCOW -- Russia's defense ministry has presented the Ukrainian military attache with a note of protest in reaction to Ukraine's plans to conduct training launches of missiles over Crimea next week.
Russian aviation officials said earlier on Friday that Ukraine had informed them of the upcoming launches over Crimea. Russia has been in control of the Ukrainian peninsula since it annexed it in March 2014 after a hastily called referendum.
The Russian defense ministry said in a statement on Friday that the note handed to the Ukrainian attache says that Russia protests the missile exercises scheduled for Dec. 1 and Dec. 2 because the airspace of the planned launches, over Crimea's west coast, "violates territorial seas of the Russian Federation."
