White House: Russia prepping pretext for Ukraine invasion

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WASHINGTON – U.S. quality officials person determined a Russian effort is underway to make a pretext for its troops to further invade Ukraine, and Moscow has already prepositioned operatives to behaviour “a false-flag operation” successful eastbound Ukraine, according to the White House.

White House property caput Jen Psaki said connected Friday the quality findings amusement Russia is besides laying the groundwork done a societal media disinformation run that frames Ukraine arsenic an aggressor that has been preparing an imminent onslaught against Russian-backed forces successful eastbound Ukraine.

Psaki charged that Russia has already dispatched operatives trained successful municipality warfare who could usage explosives to transportation retired acts of sabotage against Russia’s ain proxy forces — blaming the acts connected Ukraine — if Russian President Vladimir Putin decides helium wants to determination guardant with an invasion.

“We are acrophobic that the Russian authorities is preparing for an penetration successful Ukraine that whitethorn effect successful wide quality rights violations and warfare crimes should diplomacy neglect to conscionable their objectives,” Psaki said.

The White House did not supply details astir however overmuch assurance it has successful the assessment. A U.S. official, who was not authorized to remark connected the quality and spoke connected information of anonymity, said overmuch of the quality was gleaned from intercepted communications and observations of the movements of people.

Ukraine is besides monitoring the imaginable usage of disinformation by Russia. Separately, Ukrainian media connected Friday reported that authorities believed Russian peculiar services were readying a imaginable mendacious emblem incidental to provoke further conflict.

The caller U.S. quality was unveiled aft a bid of talks betwixt Russia and the U.S. and its Western allies this week successful Europe aimed astatine heading disconnected the escalating situation made small progress.

White House nationalist information advisor Jake Sullivan connected Thursday said the U.S. quality assemblage has not made an appraisal that the Russians, who person massed immoderate 100,000 troops connected Ukraine's border, person definitively decided to instrumentality a subject people of action.

But Sullivan said Russia is laying the groundwork to invade nether mendacious pretenses should Putin determine to spell that route. He said the Russians person been readying “sabotage activities and accusation operations” that impeach Ukraine of prepping for its ain imminent onslaught against Russian forces successful eastbound Ukraine.

He said this is akin to what the Kremlin did successful the lead-up to Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that had been nether Ukraine’s jurisdiction since 1954.

The Crimea situation came astatine infinitesimal erstwhile Ukraine was looking to fortify ties with the West. Russia had stepped up propaganda that Ukraine’s taste Russians were being oppressed successful eastbound Ukraine.

Russia has agelong been accused of utilizing disinformation arsenic a maneuver against adversaries successful conjunction with subject operations and cyberattacks. In 2014, Russian authorities media tried to discredit pro-Western protests successful Kyiv arsenic “fomented by the U.S. successful practice with fascist Ukrainian nationalists” and promoted narratives astir Crimea’s humanities ties to Moscow, according to a study by Stanford University’s Internet Observatory.

Efforts to straight power Ukrainians look to person continued during the ongoing struggle successful eastbound Ukraine, successful which astatine slightest 14,000 radical person died. The Associated Press reported successful 2017 that Ukrainian forces successful the eastbound were perpetually receiving substance messages informing that they would beryllium killed and their children would beryllium made orphans.

Nina Jankowicz, a planetary chap astatine the Washington-based Wilson Center, said Russia’s disinformation efforts person evolved betwixt the lead-up to its annexation of Crimea and now. This time, the Kremlin appears to beryllium driving anti-Ukraine narratives with apical officials making bellicose nationalist statements, said Jankowicz, writer of “How To Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict.”

“The officials are mounting the code for the authorities media and they’re conscionable moving with it,” she said.

So-called “troll farms” that station fake comments are little influential successful portion due to the fact that societal media companies person gotten amended astatine stopping them, she said. Russian efforts connected societal media often play connected existing doubts successful Ukrainian nine astir whether the U.S. volition enactment Ukraine successful a struggle and whether the West tin beryllium trusted, she said.

The U.S. quality assemblage has taken enactment of a buildup connected societal media by Russian influencers justifying involution by emphasizing deteriorating quality rights successful Ukraine, suggesting an accrued militancy of Ukrainian leaders and blaming the West for escalating tensions.

“We saw this playbook successful 2014,” Sullivan told reporters connected Thursday. “They are preparing this playbook again.”

The Russians, portion maintaining they don’t program to invade Ukraine, are demanding that the U.S. and NATO supply written guarantees that the confederation volition not grow eastward. The U.S. has called specified demands nonstarters but said that it’s consenting to negociate with Moscow astir imaginable aboriginal deployments of violative missiles successful Ukraine and putting limits connected U.S. and NATO subject exercises successful Eastern Europe.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned connected Friday that Moscow wouldn’t hold indefinitely for the Western response, saying helium expects the U.S. and NATO to supply a written reply adjacent week.

Lavrov described Moscow’s demands for binding guarantees that NATO volition not clasp Ukraine oregon immoderate different erstwhile Soviet nations, oregon presumption its forces and weapons there, arsenic indispensable for the advancement of diplomatic efforts to defuse soaring tensions implicit Ukraine.

He argued that NATO’s deployments and drills adjacent Russia’s borders airs a information situation that indispensable beryllium addressed immediately.

“We person tally retired of patience,” Lavrov said astatine a quality conference. “The West has been driven by hubris and has exacerbated tensions successful usurpation of its obligations and communal sense.”

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Isachenkov reported from Moscow

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