[ rfe/rl banner ]

U.K. Says Moscow Seeks To Install Pro-Russian Leader In Ukraine

By RFE/RL January 22, 2022

Britain says it has information that Moscow is developing plans to install a pro-Russian leader in Ukraine as Russian President Vladimir Putin considers whether to order an invasion of troops into the country.

The British Foreign Office in a statement late on January 22 said the information it has "indicates that the Russian Government is looking to install a pro-Russian leader in Kyiv" and that the former Ukrainian parliament member Yevhen Murayev "is being considered as a potential candidate."

The statement said that the British government also has information that the Russian intelligence services maintain links with several former Ukrainian politicians.

The statement said among them are Serhiy Arbuzov, who was first deputy prime minister of Ukraine from 2012-2014 and acting prime minister in 2014; Andriy Kluyev, first deputy prime minister from 2010-2012 and chief of staff to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich; Volodymyr Sivkovich, former deputy head of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council (RNBO); and Mykola Azarov, prime minister of Ukraine from 2010-2014.

"The information being released today shines a light on the extent of Russian activity designed to subvert Ukraine, and is an insight into Kremlin thinking," said Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

"Russia must de-escalate, end its campaigns of aggression and disinformation, and pursue a path of diplomacy," she said.

Truss repeated that "any Russian military incursion into Ukraine would be a massive strategic mistake with severe costs" and said the U.K. government's position on Ukraine was clear.

"We unequivocally support its sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders, including Crimea. Ukraine is an independent, sovereign country," she said.

The United States finds the accusation that Moscow aims to install a pro-Russian leader in Ukraine "deeply concerning," a statement from National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne said.

"This kind of plotting is deeply concerning. The Ukrainian people have the sovereign right to determine their own future, and we stand with our democratically elected partners in Ukraine," Horne said.

The U.K. Foreign Office statement came after European and Russian media reported that London and Moscow have agreed to hold rare high-level talks to discuss the crisis along the Russian-Ukrainian border.

The Russian state news agency TASS reported on January 22 that Truss would visit Moscow in February for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

TASS quoted an unidentified Foreign Ministry source as saying "the British foreign minister has asked for the opportunity to travel to Moscow," and that the visit had been approved.

Truss's proposed visit would be the first by a British foreign secretary to Moscow since December 2017.

The AFP news agency earlier on January 22 quoted a "senior U.K. defense source" as saying Defense Secretary Ben Wallace had invited Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to hold talks about the Ukraine tensions.

"Given the last defense bilateral was between our two countries took place in London in 2013, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has offered to meet in Moscow instead," the source was quoted as saying.

The initiatives come at a time of heightened tensions between Russia and the West over Russia's military buildup along its border with Ukraine and Moscow's demands for curbs on NATO's activity in countries of the former Soviet Union.

With reporting by AFP, AP, TASS, and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/britain-truss- moscow-visit/31666213.html

NEWSLETTER

Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list

Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

U.K. Says Moscow Seeks To Install Pro-Russian Leader In Ukraine