Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations has slammed media allegations about Russia’s 70% readiness "to invade Ukraine" as another "masterpiece of US propaganda war," Tass reports.
"Another masterpiece of US propaganda war. Unnamed officials, undisclosed sources, no evidence. And as we all saw, if you openly question such fakes you won’t get answers and will be labled Russian apologist," he wrote on his Twitter account on Sunday.
A series of articles were published in the US media outlets on Saturday and Sunday telling about the US administration’s assessments of the probability and possible outcomes of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They claim to have learnt about it from unnamed sources after a series of closed-door Congress briefings this week. Thus, it is forecasted that Kiev will be seized in 72 hours, that up to 50,000 civilians in Ukraine will be killed and millions will become refugees. It is also alleged that Russia has pulled to the border 70% of forces it would need to unleash the aggression but is ready to invade any moment. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan provided no comments in his Sunday’s interviews with the media. No evidence was provided either.
Recently, Western and Ukrainian media outlets have been echoing claims about a possible Russian aggression against Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier slammed such statements as "empty and groundless" and their goal is to whip up tensions. He stressed that Russia doesn’t pose any threat to anyone, but did not rule out possible provocations to justify the remarks in question and warned that attempts at using force to settle the crisis in southeastern Ukraine would have the most severe consequences.