MOSCOW ¨C President Vladimir Putin ordered on Thursday that the deaths of Russian soldiers during special operations in peacetime should be classified as a state secret, a move that comes as Moscow stands accused of sending troops to fight in eastern Ukraine.
Putin, who has repeatedly denied any involvement of Russian troops in a pro-Russian separatist rebellion there, amended a decree that had previously classified only deaths during war time as secret.
Asked to explain the rationale behind Putin¡¯s move, his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, denied any link to Ukraine. ¡°The improvement of the state secret law is underway,¡± he said in a conference call.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.