Hours after RT had warned that it was coming from London, the British Empire unleashed its latest provocation against Russia. The U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (originally the Foreign and Colonial Office) released a statement entitled “Kremlin Plan To Install Pro-Russian Leadership in Ukraine Exposed,” in which it claimed that “We have information that indicates the Russian government is looking to install a pro-Russian leader in Kyiv as it considers whether to invade and occupy Ukraine.” (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/kremlin-plan-to-install-pro-russian-leadership-in-ukraine-exposed) It named Yevhen Murayev (Yevheniy Murayev), a former Verkhovna Rada Deputy and briefly a presidential candidate in 2019, as the Kremlin’s choice to run a more friendly government in Kiev. “We have information that the Russian intelligence services maintain links with numerous former Ukrainian politicians,” the statement said further, naming:
• Serhiy Arbuzov, First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine from 2012-2014, and acting Prime Minister in 2014;
• Andriy Kluyev, First Deputy Prime Minister from 2010-2012 and Chief of Staff to former Ukrainian President Yanukovich
• Vladimir Sivkovich, former Deputy Head of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council (RNBO) (Sivkovich was also on the list of Ukrainians sanctioned a few days ago by the U.S.)
• Mykola Azarov, former Prime Minister of Ukraine (2010-2014)
“Some of these have contact with Russian intelligence officers currently involved in the planning for an attack on Ukraine,” the statement claimed.
“The information being released today shines a light on the extent of Russian activity designed to subvert Ukraine, and is an insight into Kremlin thinking,” the FCO statement quotes Foreign Secretary Liz Truss as saying. “Russia must de-escalate, end its campaigns of aggression and disinformation, and pursue a path of diplomacy. As the U.K. and our partners have said repeatedly, any Russian military incursion into Ukraine would be a massive strategic mistake with severe costs.”
The statement provides no absolutely no evidence to back up its assertions (as usual), and this was pointed out in late Saturday headlined reports of the British claim in U.S. news media, such as ABC News and AP.
