REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, MOSCOW -- Moscow will lend a helicopter to Ukrainian inspectors who asked to carry out a monitoring mission over Russia's Belgorod and Kursk regions, the Russian Defense Ministry said Monday.

"Assuming the commitment to our international obligations regarding the Vienna document on trust and security measures (of 2011), we have agreed yet again to allow the Ukrainian group onto our territory," Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov told reporters.

The Ukrainian mission will be allowed to inspect these border regions from air to make sure that no military activities threatening Ukraine are being conducted, he said.

Kiev on Saturday filed a request to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for holding an inspection in a period between March 18 and 24.

"Their purpose is to check the districts of the Belgorod and Kursk regions bordering Ukraine with regard of 'unannounced military activities'," the Interfax news agency quoted Antonov as saying.

That was the second time this month Ukraine asked Russia to conduct an inspection flight. On March 12, Moscow gave permission to Kiev for an inspection flight over the border region between the two countries in line with the 1992 Treaty on Open Skies. Kiev did not carry out that inspection, citing financial difficulties.

Since the outbreak of the political turmoil, Kiev has been accusing Moscow of inciting separatist sentiments and deteriorating the situation in Crimea by increasing military troops in the peninsula, an accusation denied by Moscow.

This week, a joint U.S.-German monitoring mission will also conduct observation flights over Russian territory in line with the Treaty on Open Skies.

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