Russia’s top diplomat on Monday angrily rejected the U.S. allegations that it was preparing a pretext to invade Ukraine as Russian troops have remained concentrated near the border.
The White House said Friday that U.S. intelligence officials had concluded that Russia had already deployed operatives to rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine to carry out acts of sabotage there and blame them on Ukraine in a “false-flag operation” to create a pretext for possible invasion.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed the U.S. claim as “total disinformation.”
RUSSIA BACKS OFF FROM UNPOPULAR COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens during a meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Jan. 17, 2022.
(Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
He reaffirmed that Russia expects a written response this week from the U.S. and its allies to Moscow’s request for binding guarantees that NATO will not embrace Ukraine or any other ex-Soviet nations, or station its forces and weapons there.
Washington and its allies firmly rejected Moscow’s demands during last week’s Russia-U.S. negotiations in Geneva and a related NATO-Russia meeting in Brussels, which were held as an estimated 100,000 Russian troops with tanks and other heavy weapons are massed near Ukraine in what the West fears might be a prelude to an invasion.
Ukrainian officials have warned that Russia could launch an attack from various directions, including from the territory of its ally Belarus.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has increasingly relied on the Kremlin’s support amid Western sanctions over a brutal crackdown on domestic protests, said that Russia and Belarus will hold massive military drills next month.
Lukashenko said the maneuvers will be conducted on Belarus’ western border and also in the country’s south where it borders Ukraine.
Russia has denied having plans to attack its neighbor and in…
Source : foxnews
