Moscow denies weapon transfer to Ukrainian insurgents

MOSCOW - The Kremlin said on Sunday that Russia is not sending any military equipment to militia in eastern Ukraine.

"We have said on many occasions that no weapon is supplied there," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Moscow's Govorit Moskva radio.

Aleksandr Zakharchenko, prime minister of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), said at a meeting that the militia had received some 150 combat vehicles, including 30 tanks, but he did not specify where the equipment had come from, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Zakharchenko said their units had been reinforced by 1,200 fighters "who have received four months of training on Russian territory."

Western countries have been accusing Russia of arming the insurgents in Ukraine since the outbreak of the crisis, while Kiev has repeatedly blamed Moscow for inciting the separatist unrest in eastern Ukraine.

The humanitarian aid convoy dispatched by Moscow also sparked speculations that Russia could use it as a cover for weapon transfer to the insurgents.

Moscow has consistently rejected such accusations and in late July invited representatives from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to its border to conduct investigations into the so-called Russia's military aid flowing into Ukraine.