US Concerned Over 'Russian Hand' Behind Eastern Ukraine

The U.S. is concerned about the 'Russian hand' behind the destabilization in Eastern Ukraine, according to top U.S. diplomat for Europe.



Russia cannot declare its support to deescalate unrest in Ukraine and at the same time stir the tension up, Victoria Nuland Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State, said in an exclusive interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour.



"You cannot dress yourself like a firefighter and behave like an arsonist," she said, adding that "We are very concerned about the Russian hand behind the destabilization that we're seeing in eastern Ukraine."



Nuland also commented on a dossier that CNN revealed with images of gunmen operating in eastern Ukraine, which were similar to photos of Russian forces in Crimea and Russia's 2008 invasion of Georgia. 



Nuland said the 'bearded man' that appeared both in Georgia and eastern Ukraine is "clearly a GRU agent" - GRU being Russian Military's Main Intelligence Directorate tasked to collect information from sources outside of Russia.



Nuland reiterated the U.S.'s monetary support to Ukraine since 1991. "That money (USD$5 billion) has been spent on supporting the aspirations of the Ukrainian people to have a strong, democratic government that represents their interests." 



However, Deputy Secretary of State stressed that the U.S. financial support was not anything to do with the unrest.



"We certainly didn't spend any money supporting the Maidan - that was a spontaneous movement, which is a far cry from our concerns on what Russia is up to now in eastern Ukraine."



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