The US State Department is trying to destabilize the situation in the east of Ukraine by insisting that Russia is involved in the region, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said Thursday.Accusations are levied against Moscow every time the Ukrainian crisis shows signs of stability.

The general said that Russia is no longer surprised with even the most incredible accusations from the US State Department and Pentagon and that Moscow is best left heeding the sage advice of a famous 19th century Russian writer and poet, Mikhail Lermontov, who wrote an epigram dealing with the futility of certain arguments.

Roughly translated, the epigram is: “To shame the liar, make fun of the fool and argue with a woman —– like pouring water in a sieve – from all the three, Save me, O Lord!”

“Viktor Muzhenko, the Chief of the General Staff and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine does not see them [Russian troops] there. The OSCE does not see them there. Western journalists working in DPR [Donetsk People’s Republic] and LPR [Luhansk People’s Republic] don’t see them there. And Washington – it sees it all,” he said. “Neither Generals Breedlove and Hodges, nor the Assistant Secretary of State Nuland are able to explain how and where they have allegedly seen the Russian troops in Ukraine, but stubbornly call on everyone to put off any doubts. Like a verse from a song ‘Guys, we should simply believe in wonders.’”“Frankly speaking, it’s difficult to avoid the feeling that representatives from the [US] State Department and Pentagon are actually living in some other unknown world of dreams and adventures like the gas planet of Pandora, but in this case it’s unclear who we’re trying to hold dialogue with all the time in regard to the situation in Ukraine: with real beings or with Washington avatars,” Konashenkov said.