--- title: Russia's U.S. Ambassador: No Interest in Invading Eastern Ukraine description: American lawmakers are showing concern over a Russian troop buildup along Ukraine's border canonical: https://time.com/42961/russia-ambassador-lavrov-ukraine-invading/ author: TIME Video article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-30T18:05:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-30T11:29:18.075Z article:section: Politics og:title: Russia's U.S. Ambassador: No Interest in Invading Eastern Ukraine og:description: American lawmakers are showing concern over a Russian troop buildup along Ukraine's border og:url: https://time.com/42961/russia-ambassador-lavrov-ukraine-invading/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9b4369335647af6/6986880c169ab011e6278835/476104827.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: UKRAINE-UNREST-POLITICS-EU-RUSSIA og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Russia's U.S. Ambassador: No Interest in Invading Eastern Ukraine twitter:description: American lawmakers are showing concern over a Russian troop buildup along Ukraine's border twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9b4369335647af6/6986880c169ab011e6278835/476104827.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Russia's U.S. Ambassador: No Interest in Invading Eastern Ukraine by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) and [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) Mar 30, 2014 6:05 PM CUT  Armed men in military fatigues block access to a Ukrainian border guards base not far from the village of Perevalne near Simferopol on March 2, 2014. Armed men in military fatigues block access to a Ukrainian border guards base not far from the village of Perevalne near Simferopol on March 2, 2014.Genya Savilov—AFP/Getty Images by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) and [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) Mar 30, 2014 6:05 PM CUT American lawmakers are showing concern over a Russian troop buildup along Ukraine’s border despite assurances from Russia that it will not invade the vulnerable eastern region of the country. “We have said so many times we have no intent, no interest in crossing the border,” Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak said in an appearance on ABC’s _This Week_ Sunday. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov [said](http://time.com/42714/kerry-lavrov-ukraine-meeting/ "undefined") in a televised statement Saturday that Russia has “absolutely no intention of – or interest in – crossing Ukraine’s borders.” Russia’s statements did little to calm American lawmakers’ concerns over a potential invasion in eastern Ukraine. “There is no question there a 40,000-plus troops that they are staged in various areas,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said Sunday on CNN’s _State of the Union_, adding that the Russian troop formation looks like an invasion force. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is meeting with Lavrov Sunday evening in Paris to discuss a diplomatic solution to the crisis. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/42961/russia-ambassador-lavrov-ukraine-invading/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/42961/russia-ambassador-lavrov-ukraine-invading/"},"headline":"Russia's U.S. Ambassador: No Interest in Invading Eastern Ukraine","datePublished":"2014-03-30T18:05:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-30T11:29:18.075Z","description":"American lawmakers are showing concern over a Russian troop buildup along Ukraine's border","url":"https://time.com/42961/russia-ambassador-lavrov-ukraine-invading/","keywords":["russia","Ukraine","europe","Crimea"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9b4369335647af6/6986880c169ab011e6278835/476104827.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9b4369335647af6/6986880c169ab011e6278835/476104827.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"UKRAINE-UNREST-POLITICS-EU-RUSSIA","caption":"UKRAINE-UNREST-POLITICS-EU-RUSSIA","creditText":"Genya Savilov—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/russia/","name":"russia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/42961/russia-ambassador-lavrov-ukraine-invading/","name":"Russia's U.S. Ambassador: No Interest in Invading Eastern Ukraine"}}]}] ```