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The Russian Foreign Ministry rejected this Sunday, January 23, the accusations of the United Kingdom that suggest that Moscow is trying to replace the Ukrainian Government with a pro-Russian Administration. London has warned that the Kremlin will face severe sanctions if it installs a “puppet regime” in its neighboring country as tensions rise with the West over Vladimir Putin’s alleged plans to invade Ukraine.
Russia accuses the United Kingdom of increasing tensions after accusing it of trying to change the current Ukrainian government for a pro-Russian administration.
“The disinformation spread by the British Foreign Office is further proof that it is the NATO countries, led by the Anglo-Saxons, that are increasing tensions around Ukraine. We call on the British Foreign Ministry to stop provocative activities and stop spreading nonsense,” the Russian Foreign Ministry posted on Twitter.
Ukrainian adviser to the presidential office Mykhailo Podolyak stressed that the accusations must be taken seriously.
According to the statements of the British Government, the former Ukrainian legislator Yevheniy Murayev, and leader of a small pro-Russian party that does not have seats in Parliament, is being considered as a potential candidate to install a government in favor of the Kremlin in his neighboring country.
The UK Foreign Office also named a number of other Ukrainian politicians it said had links to Russian intelligence services.
However, Murayev poured cold water on the denunciations that splash him, when in a publication through his social networks he asked “to stop dividing Ukraine into pro-Western and pro-Russian politicians.”
“The time of pro-Western and pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine is gone forever… Ukraine needs new leaders whose policy is based solely on the principles of the national interests of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people,” he said.
London points out that its conclusions come after evaluating intelligence information, although so far it has not publicly revealed evidence to support it.
A British diplomatic source stressed that it is not normal practice to share intelligence matters and that the details were only declassified after careful evaluation and in order to deter Russian aggression.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the data obtained “sheds light on the extent of Russian activity designed to subvert Ukraine, and is an insight into Kremlin thinking.”
London: Moscow will face severe sanctions if it installs a “puppet regime” in Ukraine
Boris Johnson’s government warned the Vladimir Putin administration that it will face strong economic sanctions if it fulfills its alleged intentions.
“There will be very serious consequences if Russia takes this step to try to invade, but also install a puppet regime,” British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab told local television.
Truss, for his part, urged Moscow to “decrease the intensity, end its campaigns of aggression and disinformation and follow the path of diplomacy.” In addition, he reiterated his country’s position that “any Russian military incursion into Ukraine would be a massive strategic mistake with serious costs.”
The British accusations, first launched in a statement on Saturday January 22 by the Foreign Office, come at a time of high tension between Russia and the West over the concentration of Russian troops near its border with Ukraine.
However, the Putin government has insisted that it has no plans to invade.
Britain and the United States have sent arms and military support to Ukraine as part of efforts to bolster its defense against a possible Russian attack.
Amid diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis, UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace is expected to meet Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu for talks in Moscow. Although a date for the meeting has not been released, it would be the first bilateral talk on security and defense between London and Moscow since 2013.
Likewise, the world is waiting for the response that the United States is expected to deliver in writing to Russia next week, after the meeting on Friday, January 21, between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in which he reiterated demands to withdraw NATO troops from Eastern Europe and to guarantee that Ukraine would never join the military Alliance.
Although the conflict has strong historical roots and geopolitical influence, the Kremlin’s fury has increased in the last year over the intentions of Ukraine, a former ally in the former Soviet Union, to join both NATO and the European Union.
With Reuters, AP and EFE
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