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The US government, this Friday, accused Russia of sending saboteurs to eastern Ukraine to carry out a false operation that could serve as a pretext for Russian President Vladimir Putin to order an invasion of the country.
The White House did not provide further details about the evidence it allegedly collected. Official sources told US media that intercepted communications and observations of people’s movements gave evidence of the operation.
A US government official told the New York Times in an email that Russia “is laying the groundwork for having the option of inventing a pretext for invasion, including through sabotage activities and information, accusing Ukraine of preparing an imminent attack against Russian forces in eastern Ukraine”.
CNN heard an American official who said that the US has evidence that operatives are trained in urban guerrilla warfare and in the use of explosives to carry out acts of sabotage against Russian forces themselves. Also this Friday, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine stated that Russian special services are preparing provocations against Moscow forces, in an attempt to blame Ukraine. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters in press conference on Thursday that the American intelligence community has information about the plan for a fake operation to justify the invasion. “We saw this same primer in 2014. They are preparing that playbook again,” Sullivan said, referring to the Russian military intervention in Ukraine that year, when Russia annexed Crimea. The Kremlin has denied that Moscow is preparing provocations against Ukraine.“To date, all these statements are unfounded and have not been confirmed in any way,” said Dmitry Peskov , spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to the American authority who spoke to the press on condition of anonymity, the Russian military “plans to begin these activities several weeks before a military invasion, which could begin between mid-January and mid-February.” Pentagon spokesman John F. Kirby said intelligence information about the alleged operation is ” very reliable”, when asked at a press conference this Friday. 14162955 the declares Joe Biden’s government rations are made after a week of diplomatic meetings between Russian and Western officials to discuss the concentration of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine. Negotiations did not progress, as Russia did not commit to withdrawing the approximately 100 a thousand border troops, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the US did not accept Moscow’s demands. One of them is that Ukraine will never be admitted to the western mutual defense alliance.