Russia denies looking for pretext to invade Ukraine

Moscow: Russia’s top diplomat on Monday angrily rejected the US 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 US 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 US claim as total disinformation.

He reaffirmed that Russia expects a written response this week from the US 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-US 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.

A delegation of US senators is visiting Ukraine to emphasise the US support for the country.

Our bipartisan congressional delegation sends a clear message to the global community: the United States stands in unwavering support of our Ukrainian partners to defend their sovereignty and in the face of persistent Russian aggression, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, said in a statement.

Speaking Monday on a visit to Kyiv, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned that any further escalation would carry a high price for the Russian regime economic, political and strategic and emphasised the need to continue negotiations.

We are prepared to have a serious dialogue with Russia, because diplomacy is the only way to defuse this highly dangerous situation at the moment, she said.

Baerbock said Germany has offered to send cybersecurity specialists to Ukraine to help investigate last week’s cyberattacks, which Ukrainian authorities blamed on Russia. At the same time, she noted that Germany hasn’t changed its refusal to provide it with weapons.

We made clear that we will do everything to avoid escalating the crisis, she said.

Ukrainian officials have warned that Russia could launch an attack from various directions, including from the territory of its ally Belarus. (AP)