The United States accused Russia this Friday of “actively working” to create a pretext to invade or enter Ukraine.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a press conference that they have information that Moscow has positioned a group of troops to orchestrate an operation with a view to creating a pretext to enter Ukrainian soil.
Kirby indicated that this alleged Russian operation would be the which is called in US military jargon a “false flag”, meaning an operation “designed to look like an attack on them (the Russians) or their people, or Russian-speaking people in Ukraine, as an excuse to enter” in Ukraine.
In parallel, the spokesman stressed that Washington has indications that “actors of Russian influence” have begun to spread false provocations by Ukraine, both in state media and on social networks to “try to justify in advance some price text for an incursion”.
Kirby affirmed that it is not the first time that the US has seen Russia act in this way and clarified that when Washington speaks of “Russian operations” that prepare a pretext to enter Ukrainian soil refers to “a mixture of individuals within the Russian Government”.
These operatives can range from agents of the intelligence and security services, to even soldiers, “often they are hybrids,” Kirby pointed out.
To a question from journalists about whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would be aware of these maneuvers, the US spokesman said that “it is difficult for this type of activity to be carried out without the knowledge, or without the approval of the highest levels of the Russian government.”
Despite To these accusations from the US, Kirby pointed out that Washington does not believe that Putin has already made the decision to attack Ukraine and expressed the desire of the US Executive that “diplomacy prevail”: “The Administration is not willing to abandon efforts to resolve this diplomatically,” he said.
Even so, he reiterated warnings to Russia that “there will be serious consequences if there is another incursion” into Ukraine.
USA offers military assistance to Kiev and there are currently in Ukraine some 200 members of the Florida National Guard (USA) -a reserve military corps-, who they are on a training mission.
“They are on a rotating assistance and advisory mission. It is something we have been doing for several years”, explained Kirby, who did not want to clarify the future of these troops in the event of a possible Russian incursion.
EE.UU. launched these accusations against Moscow after an intense week of meetings in Geneva, Brussels and Vienna, in which Russian representatives have held meetings with US officials, as well as NATO and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) , which have yielded few results.
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