BBC Online :
Russia has accused the US of launching a “smear campaign” over its alleged involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.
The foreign ministry in Moscow said on Friday it rejects “unfounded public insinuations” from the US government.
But the Pentagon says it believes the movement of Russian heavy-calibre artillery systems across the border into Ukraine is “imminent.” The row comes as more bodies of victims from flight MH17, which crashed in Ukraine, arrived in the Netherlands.
Separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine have been accused of shooting down the Malaysia Airlines plane.
The US says it believes rebels shot down the passenger jet with a Russian-provided SA-11 Buk surface-to-air missile, probably by mistake.
Russia has frequently denied sending heavy weapons into Ukraine but rebel leaders have given conflicting accounts of whether they had control of a Buk launcher at the time the plane was downed.
The Pentagon said on Friday that it had evidence to suggest Russia is preparing to transfer more rocket launcher systems to the rebels.
“We have indications that the Russians intend to supply heavier and more sophisticated multiple-launch rocket systems in the very near future,” Col Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said on Friday.
On Thursday, a US state department spokesperson said there was also evidence Russian troops were firing on Ukrainian soldiers from within Russia.
But in a statement, Russia’s foreign ministry said the US was pushing “anti-Russian cliches” to protect their allies in Kiev by obscuring the “real reasons for events in Ukraine”. Meanwhile, the EU has formally announced that it is strengthening sanctions against Russia, adding “15 further persons and 18 entities” to an asset freeze and a visa ban.
A statement released on Friday said that those targeted are “responsible for action against Ukraine’s territorial integrity”.
The Russian officials targeted include Federal Security Service head Alexander Bortnikov and foreign intelligence head Mikhail Fradkov.
The fighting in eastern Ukraine erupted in April and is believed to have claimed more than 1,000 lives.
On Friday, the Ukrainian army said its troops had come under artillery fire from the Russian side of the border overnight and were attacked by rebels in several areas in the east.
