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UKRAINE
Britain accused Russia over the weekend of trying to install a pro-Kremlin leader in Ukraine, as tensions continue to rise between Moscow and the West over a potential Russian invasion, the New York Times reported.
The British government released a communique saying that former Ukrainian lawmaker, Yevhen Murayev, is being considered as a potential candidate. It added that a number of former Ukrainian politicians have links to the Russian intelligence services, including agents involved in planning for an attack on Ukraine.
The communique, however, offered few details about how the Kremlin was planning to install a new government and provided no evidence to back up its assertions.
Russia denied the allegations.
The announcement is the second one in over a week in which a Western power publicly accused Russia of interfering in Ukraine’s affairs. On Jan. 14, the United States accused Moscow of sending saboteurs into eastern Ukraine to provoke tensions that could serve as a pretext for invasion.
It also comes as more than 100,000 Russian soldiers have been mobilized near Ukraine’s borders.
Russia and the West are involved in high-stakes talks to defuse the crisis, with the Kremlin dismissing accusations that it intends to invade Ukraine as “hysteria.”
Meanwhile, Britain has delivered weapon shipments to the Ukrainian military. Baltic countries have also received US permission to send American-made armaments to Ukraine. But Germany – a US ally and NATO member – has refused to send German-made weapons to Kyiv over concerns about exacerbating the current crisis and also Germany’s role in starting World War II and the Nazi atrocities committed in the region, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Analysts noted that Germany’s reluctance underscores the difficulties the US and its European allies are facing in forging a common response toward Russian aggression.
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