RUSSIA warned of the “military colonisation” of Ukrainian territory by Nato countries yesterday as tensions continue to escalate.

Moscow deployed about 1,000 troops for military exercises close to the border as they practised repelling air strikes.

Russian Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko told a press conference that Russia is concerned over Nato’s continued expansion eastwards.

“There is active military colonisation of Ukrainian territory, although the deployment of foreign military bases is prohibited under Ukraine’s constitution. 

“It is called differently, but actually there is active military colonisation of Ukrainian territory with which Russia has the longest border. This, undoubtedly, causes our serious concern,” she said.

“So far there are no real specific steps to remove our justified concerns, those worries that we express. Nato continues to move to our borders, now right up to them,” she added.

Ms Matviyenko said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had spoken to US President Joe Biden on the issue of security guarantees and had submitted documents to Washington and Brussels.

Talks are expected next month and Ms Matviyenko urged the US and the EU to take them seriously.

“This time we won’t believe words, promises that we were repeatedly given, we will insist on legal guarantees ensuring the security of our country. Nothing else is possible. 

“We won’t allow for this to be talked around, to get stalled in the negotiations while the advance of Nato and Nato’s infrastructure to our borders actively continues. 

“We will be very persistent, we hope that we will be heard, because Russia’s demands are absolutely justified and legitimate, nobody can refute them,” she said.

Mr Putin has said he fears a Ukrainian assault on the breakaway Russian-speaking regions of Donetsk and Lugansk. Last week, at a meeting marking 30 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian president attacked Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin for allegedly ceding Russian territory to Ukraine, helping “create a country that never existed before.”

He has urged Ukraine to abide by the terms of the Minsk agreement, under which a fragile ceasefire remains in place.