West ‘making things up’

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday accused "Western colleagues" of making things up after US officials claimed to have evidence of a planned operation by Moscow to film a fake Ukrainian attack on Russians.

"The delusional nature of such fabrications -- and there are more and more of them every day -- is obvious to any more or less experienced political scientist," he said in televised remarks.

The Pentagon said Thursday it had evidence of a plan by Moscow to film a fake Ukrainian attack on Russians to justify an assault on its pro-West neighbour.

The Kremlin yesterday said that Washington could not be trusted.

"I would recommend not to believe anyone, and especially the State Department, when it comes to these issues," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Neither the Pentagon nor State Department offered evidence to back up the claim.

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that Washington believed the Russian government plans to stage an attack by the Ukraine military or intelligence forces "against Russian sovereign territory, or against Russian speaking people."

"As part of this fake attack, we believe that Russia would produce a very graphic propaganda video, which would include corpses and actors that would be depicting mourners and images of destroyed locations," he said.

That could allow Moscow, which has amassed more than 100,000 troops and heavy offensive arms on Ukraine's border, with an excuse for invading.

Washington's claim came on the back of visits from European leaders to shore up support for Kyiv, including from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba yesterday welcomed the displays of support, saying they had prevented Russia from "further aggravating the security situation".

Following his trip on Thursday, Erdogan accused the West of making the crisis "worse".

"Unfortunately, the West until now has not made any contribution to resolving this issue," he said in comments published by local media yesterday.

"They are only making things worse," Erdogan said, adding that Joe Biden "has not yet been able to demonstrate a positive approach".

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was the latest European leader to announce a visit to the region yesterday, saying he would go to Ukraine on February 14 and Russia the next day.  French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Moscow on Monday and Kyiv on Tuesday for talks with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts.