In this Dec 17, 2020 photo, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov speaks with journalists gathered at the World Trade Centre's congress centre to follow Russian President Vladimir Putin addressing his annual press conference via a video link from the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, in Moscow amid the ongoing coronavirus disease pandemic. (NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA / AFP)

MOSCOW - Russia has a right to move its military forces around its territory the way it likes, a Kremlin spokesman said on Friday, after German Chancellor Angela Merkel told President Vladimir Putin to pull back the build-up near the border with Ukraine.

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Dmitry Peskov also told a daily conference call with reporters that the situation in eastern Ukraine was “very unstable... creating risks of full-scale combat operations.”