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The Russian authorities are looking for opportunities for a leader loyal to Moscow to come to power in Ukraine, informed British Foreign Office.
“We have information that indicates that the Russian government is seeking to install a pro-Russian leader in Kiev, while considering the possibility of invading and occupying Ukraine,” the statement said. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one of the possible candidates for the role of such a leader is the former deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Yevgeny Muraev. In 2018, the Russian government placed Muraev on the sanctions list.
According to the British Foreign Office, Russian intelligence also “maintains links with numerous former Ukrainian politicians.” Among them, the agency names the former First Deputy Prime Ministers of Ukraine Serhiy Arbuzov and Andriy Klyuyev, ex-Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and former Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Volodymyr Sivkovich. All of them held positions under President Viktor Yanukovych, who, as a result of the protests in 2014, lost power and fled to the territory of the Russian Federation.
“Some of them are in contact with Russian intelligence officials who are now planning an attack on Ukraine,” the British Foreign Office said.
Evgeny Muraev, whom London considers a possible “pro-Russian leader” in Ukraine, was elected to the Verkhovna Rada in 2012 and re-elected in 2014. He was a member of the “Opposition Bloc” and “Opposition Government” factions, but left it due to ideological differences, transmits RBC.
Muraev was a candidate in the presidential elections in Ukraine in 2019, but refused to participate in them in favor of Oleksandr Vilkul, deputy chairman of the Opposition Bloc faction. Currently, Muraev is the leader of the Nashi party.
“You made my evening unforgettable. The UK Foreign Office seems to be confused,” said Muraev to The Guardian, commenting on the Foreign Ministry’s statement. He explained that the accusations against him look “not very logical”, since he himself is under Russian sanctions.
The Daily Telegraph newspaper Muraev saidthat he was “amused” by the statements of the British Foreign Office. “As someone who has been under Russian sanctions for four years, who is banned from entering Russia because of a threat to national security (…) it is difficult for me to comment on the Foreign Ministry’s statement,” he said.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, commenting on the department’s data on Moscow’s plans, said that they “shed light on the scale of Russia’s actions to undermine [ситуации в] Ukraine and give a glimpse of the Kremlin’s mindset.”
Truss urged Moscow to de-escalate, end the “disinformation campaign” and commit to a diplomatic path to resolve the conflict. She stressed that an invasion of Ukraine, if it occurs, would be “a huge strategic mistake with harsh consequences.”
“We unconditionally support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, including Crimea,” Truss said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry, in response to statements by the British department, was asked to “stop provocative activities and stop spreading nonsense” about the situation around Ukraine.
Truss had previously warned Russia that any invasion of Ukraine would lead to “a terrible quagmire and loss of life.” She recalled the Soviet-Afghan war and the Chechen wars and called on Vladimir Putin to “refrain and retreat from Ukraine.”
The British Foreign Office said the situation in Ukraine is a priority for the kingdom’s foreign policy and that its authorities have “robust contingency plans to respond to any event.”
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