Russia still has around 1,000 troops in eastern Ukraine, a NATO military officer said on Thursday, casting doubt on reports of a reduction in Russian forces there.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Wednesday he had information that 70 percent of Russian troops who had been in Ukraine had been moved back across the border.
"The reported reduction of Russian troops from eastern Ukraine would be a good first step, but we have no information on this. The fact of the matter is there are still approximately 1,000 Russian troops in eastern Ukraine with substantial amounts of military equipment and approximately 20,000 troops on the Russian border with Ukraine," the NATO military officer said.
However, NATO had said last week that it estimated several thousand Russian combat troops were in Ukraine.
Earlier on Thursday, President Vladimir Putin ordered snap checks of troops' combat readiness in Russia's far east, the latest in a series of military drills this year as tensions have mounted over the crisis in Ukraine.
Russian news agencies quoted Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu as telling the armed forces' leadership on Thursday that troops in the eastern military district, which includes Russia's maritime border with Japan and its land frontier with China, had been ordered to be on full combat readiness at 10:00 a.m. Moscow time 0600 GMT)
A number of military checks and snap war drills, which Putin has implemented to test and display the armed forces' capabilities, have raised tensions as ties between Moscow and the West fray over Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis.
The West has accused Putin of using some of the man-oeuvres to boost Russia's troop presence along its border with Ukraine.
The snap checks Russia's far east were also meant to test the ability of local branches of the trade, communications and transportation ministries to work during wartime conditions, the news reports said.
The European Union could scrap sanctions on Russia if a review to be carried out by the end of September shows that a peace plan in Ukraine is being implemented, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said on Thursday.
Van Rompuy confirmed in a statement that the new EU sanctions on Russia will take effect on Friday.
EU ambassadors will carry out a comprehensive review of the implementation of the peace plan by the end of September: "In the light of the review and if the situation on the ground so warrants, the Commission and the EEAS (EU diplomatic service) are invited to put forward proposals to amend, suspend or repeal the set of sanctions in force, in all or in part," he said.
The 28 governments of EU member states last week agreed on new sanctions against Russia over military involvement in the five-month war in eastern Ukraine - but spent several days discussing their announcement and implementation.
Russia's response to Western sanctions could include caps on used car imports and some other consumer goods, but Moscow hopes common sense will prevail in the West, the state-run RIA news agency cited a Kremlin official as saying on Thursday.
"This (response) includes (caps on) car imports, mainly used cars and on certain types of light industry goods," Kremlin economic aide Andrei Belousov was quoted as saying.
"But I hope common sense will prevail and we will not have to introduce those measures."
Later on, Interfax news agency said, citing a Kremlin spokesman, that Russia is committed to help enforce a peace initiative in Ukraine despite a new set of economic sanctions imposed by the European Union against Moscow.
"Despite the EU position being non-constructive, Russia will continue to do its utmost to help enforce the existing peace plan, as well as to stabilise the situation in the south-east of Ukraine overall," Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying.
UKRAINE GAS CRISIS
Russia's Energy Ministry has not yet received an invitation for a trilateral meeting in Berlin on Sept. 20 to discuss the Ukrainian gas crisis, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.
Earlier, the European Commission said its representatives, as well as Russia and Ukraine, will hold a meeting in Berlin on Sept. 20 to discuss the crisis.
"We do not know about that date and we have not got an invitation," the ministry's spokeswoman said.
REUTERS