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UK: Kremlin plans to install pro-Russian leader in Ukraine

2022-01-23T04:02:24.925Z


The UK said in a statement on Saturday that it has information that the Russian government plans to "install a pro-Russian leader in Kyiv.


Russian Foreign Minister: The West is "hysterical" with Ukraine 2:44

(CNN) --

The UK Foreign Office said in a statement Saturday that it has information that the Russian government plans to "install a pro-Russian leader in Kyiv while it considers whether to invade and occupy Ukraine."

"Former Ukrainian MP Yevhen Murayev is being considered as a potential candidate," the British Commonwealth, Foreign and Development Office said.

Murayev told CNN on Saturday that there is "nothing to comment" on the allegations, as he is a Ukrainian citizen facing Russian sanctions.

  • CNN Exclusive: On the front lines, Ukrainians brace for possible attack

The statement went on to name four other former Ukrainian officials, saying: "We have information that the Russian intelligence services maintain links with numerous former Ukrainian politicians," including Serhiy Arbuzov, Ukraine's first deputy prime minister from 2012 to 2014 and acting prime minister in 2014; Andriy Kluyev, First Deputy Prime Minister from 2010 to 2012 and Chief of Staff to former Ukrainian President Yanukovych; Vladimir Sivkovich, former Deputy Director of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (RNBO) and Mykola Azarov, Prime Minister of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014, said.

"Some of them have contact with Russian intelligence agents who are currently involved in planning an attack on Ukraine," the British foreign office statement added.

Russia has denied allegations that it plans to attack Ukraine.

The details about the meeting between Blinken and Lavrov in Geneva 3:35

Earlier on Sunday, the Russian Foreign Ministry called on the UK foreign office to "stop engaging in provocations", the state news agency TASS reported.

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"The misinformation spread by the British Foreign Office is further evidence that these are the NATO countries, led by the Anglo-Saxons, that are raising tensions around Ukraine. We call on the British Foreign Office to stop provocative activities, stop spreading nonsense and concentrate on studying the history of the Tatar-Mongolian yoke," a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry told TASS.

CNN contacted the UK foreign office on Saturday for further comment on his claims, as well as supporting evidence, but said it would not comment further.

"The information being released today sheds light on the extent of Russian activity designed to subvert Ukraine, and is insight into Kremlin thinking," UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement.

"Russia must de-escalate, end its campaigns of aggression and disinformation, and follow the path of diplomacy," Truss said.

"As the UK and our partners have repeatedly said, any Russian military incursion into Ukraine would be a massive strategic mistake with severe costs."

On Twitter, Truss said: "We will not tolerate (a) Kremlin plot to install pro-Russian leadership in Ukraine."

CNN has also reached out to the US State Department and the White House for comment.

US has 'same information' as UK, says source

In a statement on Saturday, the White House said US President Joe Biden met with his national security team to discuss "Russia's continued aggressive actions toward Ukraine."

The president was briefed on the status of Russian military operations on Ukraine's borders and "discussed our ongoing efforts to de-escalate the situation through diplomacy and our range of deterrence measures that are closely coordinated with our allies and partners. , including ongoing deliveries of security assistance to Ukraine," it added.

"President Biden reaffirmed that if Russia continues to invade Ukraine, the United States will impose swift and severe consequences on Russia with our allies and partners," the White House said.

A source briefed on US and British intelligence confirmed that the US has similar evidence to the UK regarding Russia's plot to install an allied government in Ukraine.

“Yes, we have seen the intelligence that Russia is looking for ways to minimize a long and drawn out war.

That includes things like installing a friendly government and using their spy agencies to foment dissent," the source said.

Another informed source said the United States "has the same information."

The 5 most powerful armies on the planet in 2022 0:47

Other ways to destabilize Ukraine

Russia has previously been accused of trying to wreak havoc in Ukraine through cyberattacks and allegedly plotting to take control of the government in Kyiv.

But the Kremlin has repeatedly denied that it is planning an invasion.

CNN previously reported that the United States accused Russia of recruiting current and former Ukrainian government officials to try to take control of Ukraine's government when it unveiled new sanctions on Thursday.

The Treasury Department implemented sanctions against four current and former Ukrainian officials it said were involved in Kremlin-directed influence activities to destabilize Ukraine.

Those recently sanctioned individuals include Taras Romanovych Kozak, Volodymyr Mykolayovych Oliynyk, Vladimir Leonidovich Sivkovich, and Oleh Voloshyn.

Sivkovich was the only former Ukrainian politician mentioned in the US and UK ads.

Treasury said the four people, two of whom are current members of Ukraine's parliament, were acting under the direction of a US-sanctioned Russian intelligence service and played "various roles" in Russia's "global influence campaign to destabilize sovereign countries in support of the Kremlin's political goals".

  • Blinken warns that any Russian "invasion" of Ukraine will have a "severe response", after meeting with Lavrov

US National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne expressed solidarity with Ukraine when the UK Foreign Office said it had information that the Russian government plans to install a pro-Russian leader in Ukraine, calling the "deeply troubling" plot.

"This type of conspiracy is deeply troubling," Horne said.

"The Ukrainian people have the sovereign right to determine their own future, and we stand with our democratically elected partners in Ukraine."

Romania and Bulgaria criticize Russia's demands to move NATO troops

The above occurs when NATO members Romania and Bulgaria described as "unacceptable" Russia's demand to withdraw troops from the alliance of both countries, and each argued that the Kremlin has no right to interfere in decision-making. foreign policy of other sovereign states.

The comments from both countries came just hours after the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed its demand that NATO withdraw troops from parts of Eastern Europe, including Bulgaria and Romania.

The two countries are located on the Black Sea, which analysts believe Moscow sees as an important geostrategic buffer zone between Europe and its territory.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov listens during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken January 21, 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Romania's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that "such a demand is unacceptable and cannot be negotiated."

The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry urged Moscow to "show respect for the foreign policy choice consciously made by Bulgaria".

Bulgaria's ambassador to the UK, Marin Raykov, told the BBC that the Kremlin's demand is "an expression of contempt for Bulgaria's sovereign rights to choose the sources of guarantees for national security."

Discrepancies between Russia and NATO

Russia and NATO have been at loggerheads since late last year, when the Kremlin deployed some 100,000 troops to its border with Ukraine.

That military posture has raised fears that Russia is planning another incursion into Ukraine after illegally invading and annexing the Crimean peninsula in 2014. That same year, Moscow began supporting a pro-Russian separatist movement in eastern Ukraine that has left thousands of dead.

In its statement, Romania said NATO's military presence in Eastern Europe is "a strictly defensive reaction to the increasingly aggressive behavior of the Russian Federation... which started in 2014, when Russia illegally occupied the Ukrainian territory of Crimea." ".

"This behavior continues to intensify at present, despite NATO's attempts to engage in a constructive dialogue," the statement read.

  • ANALYSIS |

    Neither Biden nor Putin can afford to lose in their duel over Ukraine

The United States and its NATO allies have repeatedly warned Russia that any movement of its troops into Ukrainian territory would be met with what US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called "a severe and united response."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has argued in recent weeks that his country is the aggrieved party and is responding to NATO's cooperation with Ukraine and the alliance's eastward expansion since the fall of the Soviet Union, which Russia considers an existential security threat.

Russian troops photographed on December 14, 2021.

Diplomats from all sides have attempted to broker a peaceful settlement, though one of Russia's main demands - that NATO withdraw foreign military forces and equipment from alliance members that joined after 1997 - was quickly deemed impossible by western diplomats.

"NATO allies are ready to engage in dialogue with Russia, but we will not commit to basic principles," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said earlier this month.

"We are not going to compromise the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all the nations of Europe, and we are not going to compromise the right of all countries to choose their own path, including the kind of security arrangements that they want to be a part of and not will compromise the right of allies to protect and defend each other."

Weapons sent to Ukraine

In recent days, NATO members have deployed military equipment and personnel to members of the eastern alliance in response to the Russian troop buildup in Ukraine.

The Netherlands defense minister said it would deploy two F-35 jets, along with support personnel, to Bulgaria in April or May, while Spain's defense minister offered to send fighter jets and a warship to the Black Sea. .

The alliance has also begun sending weapons to Kyiv to deter a possible Russian invasion and strengthen Ukraine's defensive capabilities.

Light anti-tank weapons from the UK have already arrived in the country, Ukraine's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday, while the Czech Republic plans to donate 152-millimeter caliber artillery ammunition to Ukraine in the coming days, the defense minister said on Friday. Czech, Jana Černochová.

Members of the Ukrainian military in a frontline trench in Katerynivka, in the Lugansk Oblast province of eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022. Credit: Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Germany will supply a fully equipped field hospital to Ukraine, according to the German Defense Ministry.

The country has traditionally avoided exporting weapons to crisis areas since World War II, but German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said earlier this week that "all measures" will be on the table if there is more Russian aggression. against Ukraine.

The US Embassy in Kyiv said on Friday that the first US-directed shipment of materiel, 200,000 pounds of lethal aid, including ammunition for fighters on the front lines, has arrived in Ukraine.

Although US President Joe Biden has ruled out sending US combat troops to Ukraine, Washington has approved sending US-sourced weapons to Kyiv, including highly valued US anti-aircraft systems from Latvia and Lithuania.

Such armaments would help Ukraine fend off Russian aircraft that some officials and experts believe would lead the way in the early stages of a Russian invasion.

Estonia received approval to transfer Javelin anti-tank guided missile systems, which the United States provided to Ukraine in the past.

CNN's Sharon Braithwaite, DJ Judd, Nic Robertson, Lauren Kent, Ivana Kottasová, Vasco Cotovio, Aliza Kassim Khalidi and Darya Tarasovaf contributed to this report.

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2022-01-23

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