Ukraine said on Sunday it wanted to dismantle all pro-Russian groups on its territory after Britain accused Moscow of plotting to install a puppet government in Kiev aligned with Vladimir Putin.
“Our state will continue its policy of dismantling any oligarchic and political structure that may work to destabilize Ukraine or be an accomplice of the Russian occupiers,” Mikhailo Podoliak, adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky’s Presidency, told news agencies, without detailing how this process will unfold. concretely.
According to him, there are doubts in the country about the possibility of Moscow casting ex-deputy Yevgeny Murayev to that position – since he would be “too ridiculous a figure”, which does not mean that British intelligence information should not be taken to seriously “as much as possible”.
On Saturday night (22), a statement signed by Liz Truss, the United Kingdom’s foreign secretary, made the accusation against Putin, pointing to Muraiev as the likely leader of this Moscow-aligned government. Also named were four Ukrainian politicians who had ties to Russian intelligence services, including agents involved in attack plans.
The statement, however, does not detail how Russia would make Zelensky’s fall possible, nor does it explain whether the plan would depend on an invasion by Russian troops – a possibility that the West has been suggesting is increasingly real, after the deployment of 100,000 troops to the region. of the border between countries.
British intelligence officials involved in the preparation of the dossier said on condition of anonymity that the intention of releasing the statement, unusual in terms of diplomacy, was to prevent the realization of such plans by exposing Putin’s alleged plot. The Ukrainian president himself, in November, cited a coup plot against him involving Russians.
On Sunday morning, UK Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab threatened Russia with “severe economic sanctions” if the plan comes to fruition. “There will be very serious consequences if Russia takes this step and tries to invade Ukraine,” he told Sky News. This week, the country announced that it had started supplying anti-tank weapons to Ukrainians.
In Kiev, Podoliak urged the West to act “unitedly and rigorously” towards Russia at this time, and speech by other officials on sanctions on Moscow followed a more measured tone.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken rejected the possibility of doing so immediately. “The purpose of sanctions is to deter Russian aggression. If they are applied now, you lose their deterrent effect,” he told CNN. In another interview, however, he stressed that the country has never helped Ukraine as much with security as this year – weapons were delivered this Sunday, inclusive – and that, in a possible new invasion, Moscow will suffer “massive consequences”.
At night, US diplomacy issued a warning advising citizens not to travel to Ukraine, citing evidence that Russia plans “significant military action” in the region. Citizens who are in Kiev and family members of embassy staff have been told to leave the country.
“Security conditions, particularly at the borders, in Russian-occupied Crimea and in the Russian-controlled east, are unpredictable and could deteriorate in the short term,” the statement said. Then, another note pointed out that trips to Russia are not recommended either.
On Friday, Blinken met with Russian Chancellor Sergei Lavrov and agreed to a request to send formal written responses to the Kremlin’s demands, which were otherwise denied on other occasions — namely, the assurance that former Soviet republics such as Ukraine , Georgia or Moldova will not join NATO and the withdrawal of troops from the group of ex-communist countries near Moscow.
The New York Times reported that President Joe Biden this weekend discussed scenarios with Pentagon officials that include sending aircraft and up to 5,000 American troops to countries that are part of the Western military alliance, such as the Baltic States, in Eastern Europe. . The hammer can be beaten early this week.
In Germany, Prime Minister Olaf Scholz urged the West to be cautious on the matter, but repeated his unity speech: “In this circle of allies, we agree on possible measures. We have to be able to act in an emergency.” The country was at the center of the crisis on Saturday, when it was forced to remove the head of the navy after the military man unleashed an unease with Kiev by defending Putin.
The dispute in the region could directly affect the Germans because of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which has not yet come into operation. Over the week, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Scholz said that Berlin knows the cost of defending Ukraine in the event of a Russian invasion will be great — and everyone is willing to pay it.
Meanwhile, in Russia, the British intelligence accusation was classified by the local foreign ministry as a disinformation campaign aimed at “raising tensions” in the crisis involving Ukraine. The state agency TASS reported on Sunday that the country is still considering the possibility of a diplomatic visit by Secretary Liz Truss to Chancellor Sergei Lavrov in February.
Muraiev also criticized the UK document, calling it a conspiracy theory, and said he was considering taking legal action. “It’s absolutely unproven, absolutely unfounded.” He added that he suffered sanctions from Moscow in 2018 and denied having contact with Russian agents.
In a Facebook post, he defended “new leaders” for Ukraine, guided by national interests and who are not “pro-Western or pro-Russia”. Recent positions of the former deputy, however, indicate a closer relationship with Moscow than anything else. “It is peace, not NATO, that is in our interests,” he told Reuters. “If we have a war and hundreds of thousands die because the West wants us to be a launching pad, I think that is against our interests.”
With Sunday capping a week in which diplomatic meetings have failed to cool the crisis, Pope Francis at the Vatican has called for an international day of “prayer for peace” to be held on January 26 to prevent the meltdown in the Ukraine region. turn around at once. According to the pontiff, the tensions threaten the security of Europe and could have even more serious consequences.
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