Russian Federation Council's decision to send troops to Syria means any country could be in dander - Turchynov

Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov believes that the decision of the Russian Federation Council on approving the deployment of the Russian Armed Forces to Syria puts that country and others in danger.

"It (the corresponding document) was approved behind closed doors, and its text has not been published. Therefore, we can assume that it is not limited to the Syrian territory and any country may be in danger," the NSDC press service quoted Turchynov as saying.

According to him, the decision of the Federation Council is further evidence of the fact that "Russia is not going to stop its external aggression and remains one of the major military and terrorist threats to the international community."

"Thus, the Russian aggression in Crimea began on the night of February 27 with the seizure of the parliament in Simferopol by a special unit of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of Russia, while a decision on permission to send troops into the territory of Ukraine was taken by Russia a few days after that, on March 1," Turchynov said adding that the same pattern is emerging now.

He said that Russian military servicemen and warplanes have been waging war on the side of the dictatorship of [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad for more than a month.

"Today, as political cover for his actions, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin pushed this decision through the Federation Council behind closed doors," he said.

Kremlin Chief of Staff Sergei Ivanov said on Wednesday that the Federation Council unanimously backed the Russian president's request for the Russian Armed Forces to be deployed in Syria.

"A closed-door meeting of the Federation Council which processed the Russian president's request for using the armed forces abroad outside the Russian Federation has just ended. I would like to tell you about the results right away. The Federation Council unanimously granted the president's request by 162 votes, no one abstained or was against," Ivanov told reporters on Wednesday.