Ukrainian servicemen on the contact line in Donetsk regionMOSCOW, Jan 31Kiev is preparing an information provocation to start large-scale hostilities in the Donbass, Eduard Basurin, deputy head of the People's Militia Department of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, said on the Rossiya 24 channel. «The worst thing is that they are preparing an information provocation. You can make an analogy with how the Second world war: they will pretend at the training ground that an offensive is underway, they heroically fight back <…>, after that they go on a counteroffensive and liberate Donbass, substituting people who will tell how tired they are of living under the yoke of the Russian Federation and want to return to his native Ukraine,» he said. Earlier, a representative of the LPR, Yan Leshchenko, said that Ukrainian and Western intelligence services were preparing a media campaign to «mislead the world community» and accuse the self-proclaimed republics, together with Russia, of «aggression against Kiev.» According to him, staged stories about the «horrors of war» are being prepared with the message that the regions of south-eastern Ukraine must be «liberated from Russian oppression.» Ukrainian issue and negotiations with the WestIn recent months, relations between Russia and the West have become even more tense, the situation around Ukraine has worsened . Washington and Brussels accuse Moscow of preparing an «invasion», declaring that Russian troops are being pulled up to the border with a neighboring state. Against this background, the North Atlantic Alliance is strengthening its presence in Eastern Europe.Ukraine is preparing staged stories about the Russian attack, said in the LNRV Moscow rejects all claims, emphasizing that they are moving troops within their territories. The Russian side also recalls that Ukraine does not comply with the Minsk agreements, which provide for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of contact. Now Kiev has concentrated half of the army’s personnel on the border with the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR and is regularly shelling the militias, including using prohibited equipment — the Javelin anti-tank missile system and the Bayraktar strike drone. «- to build up a foreign grouping at the Russian borders. In addition, they explained that the main reason for the escalation in Ukraine is the actions of the United States and NATO, which send military instructors, weapons and equipment there, increase the number of exercises, thereby pushing Kiev to military adventures. At the end of last year, Moscow handed over projects to Brussels and Washington security documents. The Kremlin insists on ending the bloc's military cooperation with the post-Soviet countries, refusing to create bases on their territory, limiting the deployment of strike weapons near the Russian border, removing American nuclear weapons from Europe and not expanding NATO to the east. Subsequently, Russia received a written response, its contents were not disclosed, but the Foreign Ministry said that Western partners ignored the most important issue — the movement of the alliance to its borders. security guarantees between Russia and NATOInfographicView
