The U.K. Foreign Office said it has evidence the Kremlin wants to install a Russia-friendly government in Kyiv “as it considers whether to invade and occupy Ukraine.”
In a statement that offered limited details on the alleged plot, the Foreign Office said late Saturday that the Kremlin considers former Ukrainian MP Yevhen Murayev to be a potential candidate.
The information “shines a light on the extent of Russian activity designed to subvert Ukraine, and is an insight into Kremlin thinking,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said.
“Russia must de-escalate, end its campaigns of aggression and disinformation, and pursue a path of diplomacy,” she added, warning that Russian military action against Ukraine “would be a massive strategic mistake with severe costs.”
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs tweeted that the allegations amounted to “disinformation.”
“We urge the Foreign Office to stop spreading nonsense,” it said.
The statement from the U.K.’s Foreign Office, which also says that “numerous” former Ukrainian politicians have links with the Russian intelligence services and names some of them, has raised eyebrows in some quarters.
“The British Foreign Office seems confused,” Murayev told British newspaper the Observer.
“It isn’t very logical. I’m banned from Russia. Not only that but money from my father’s firm there has been confiscated.”
The clash between London and Moscow comes amid growing tensions between Russia and Western nations over Ukraine. Russia has already amassed around 100,000 troops on its border with Ukraine, and Western officials fear that it is preparing to invade.
