KIEV, Aug. 25 – Ukraine on Tuesday vigorously denied Russia’s allegations that Ukrainian troops helped Georgia to fight off Russian army during their five-day war a year ago, calling the allegations “lies” and “provocation.”

“These are the lying statements,” Valentyn Nalyvaychenko, the head of the SBU security service, said Tuesday. “Ukraine was not part of that conflict. We are not the aggressor in this situation. That’s why giving any comments over the allegations are not necessary, especially when these are the lies.”

Kostiantyn Hryshchenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to Russia, said the allegations announced by Russian officials point to either “unprofessional” investigation or to an “order” to make the false statement.

The comments come days after Vladimir Markin, a special representative of the chief investigation committee under the Russian Prosecutor General Office, said the committee had recovered “evidence” of Ukrainian troop involvement in the conflict.

In addition to undisclosed number of the Ukrainian troops, Markin said there were about 200 members of the Ukrainian nationalist party, UNA-UNSO, fighting the Russian army during its incursion into Georgia in August 2008.

But Hryshchenko said that he met Russia’s top Foreign Ministry officials after the allegations had been made, and Russia had provided no evidence that would suggest Ukraine’s involvement.

“Any allegations must be backed by facts,” Hryshchenko said. “The prosecutor office of any country cannot just simply make the allegations suggesting that they have nobody knows what kind of evidence in their pocket, and make the respective announcements in the media.”

“This step does not help to improve or even keep normal relations” between Ukraine and Russia, Hryshchenko said.

The developments further escalate tensions between Ukraine and Russia, the two biggest countries in Europe by territory, weeks after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had accused his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko of “anti-Russian” policy.

Medvedev, in his angry letter to Yushchenko, never mentioned that Ukrainian troops have been helping Georgia to fight the war against the Russians. However, Medvedev did mention supplies of Ukrainian weapons to Georgia over the past several years as an example of “anti-Russian” policy.

The developments further escalate tensions between Moscow and Kiev and come amid fears that perhaps a military clash may be triggered between the two, similar to Russia’s invasion into Georgia.

Moscow has been persistently sending controversial allegations against Kiev over the past several years, including allegations that Ukraine was responsible for the disruption of Russian natural gas supplies to Europe earlier in January.

The latest allegations show that Moscow has been adding new, now highly sensitive allegations of the Ukrainian troop involvement in the war against the Russians, which may directly provoke a military strike.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry a week ago was especially concerned after Medvedev had submitted legislation that would authorize legal use of military force in foreign countries, allegedly for protection of Russian citizens.

The focus of the inquiry is how the legislation would affect Ukraine as tens of thousands of people in Crimea, the country’s autonomous region, are thought to have Russian and Ukrainian citizenships.

The comment comes after Medvedev submitted the legislation that authorizes Russian military forces to be used in other countries for protecting the holders of Russian passports. The legislation also authorizes Russian forces to open fire for protection of its military bases on foreign soil.

Medvedev rejected Yushchenko’s idea for holding bilateral talks to discuss the problems, and suspended the arrival of Russia’s new ambassador to Ukraine indefinitely, a move that some analysts thought may be suggesting grave complications in bilateral relations.

The developments come a year after Russia sent tens of thousands of troops and tanks into Georgia, a small pro-Western country in the Caucuses and a Ukrainian ally.

The five-day incursion ended with a de-facto annexation of Georgia’s two breakaway territories, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a move that had been condemned by most countries in the world.

Analysts said that Russia’s increasing assertiveness have become a threat for Ukraine, in particular to Crimea, an autonomous region in which two thirds of its 1.5 million population are ethnic Russians. (tl/ez)