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NATO Chief Calls For Russian Troop Withdrawal From Ukraine

RFE/RL

   NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has welcomed the withdrawal of
   Ukrainian and Russia-backed separatist forces from a frontline area in
   eastern Ukraine, but reiterated calls for Moscow to "withdraw all their
   troops."

   "We welcome all efforts to reduce tensions," Stoltenberg said during a
   visit to the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Wednesday, adding that
   "there is a long way to go because there are still cease-fire
   violations."

   "NATO states very clearly that Russia has a special responsibility
   to... withdraw all their troops, all their officers" from eastern
   Ukraine, he added.

   Stoltenberg's comments come a day after Ukrainian government troops and
   the separatists started a disengagement process in the town of Zolote
   in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk.

   Ukrainian armed forces have been fighting the separatists in Luhansk
   and the neighboring Donetsk region in a conflict that has killed more
   than 13,000 people since April 2014.

   Under a deal reached earlier this month to end the five-year conflict,
   the sides agreed to start withdrawing from their positions in Zolote
   and the nearby town of Petrivske.
   

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