Ukrainian foreign minister says about swapping of Ukrainian serviceman for Russian major at UN Security Council, interpreter makes mistake

13:30, 12.12.2015 1 min read

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin in fact said at a UN Security Council meeting on Friday evening that Ukraine had recently swapped a Russian major for a Ukrainian military serviceman, but an interpreter mistakenly rendered it as "a Russian general," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported on Saturday.

"An interpreter made a mistake during Klimkin's speech at a UN Security Council meeting. Instead of the phrase "Russian major" said by the minister, the phrase was interpreted as "Russian general," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said via Twitter.

Klimkin's remark at Friday's UN Security Council meeting was interpreted as "We swapped one Russian general for one of our military servicemen last week."

The Russian leadership and the Defense Ministry have repeatedly denied the presence of Russian troops or military servicemen in Ukrainian territory.