MOSCOW (Dispatches) – Russia has dismissed new U.S. media reports about a possible Russian attack on Ukraine, accusing Washington of trying to aggravate the situation while blaming Moscow, the Kommersant newspaper said on Saturday, citing the Foreign Ministry.
The Washington Post cited officials and an intelligence document on Saturday as saying U.S. intelligence thought Russia could be planning a multi-front offensive on Ukraine as early as next year involving up to 175,000 troops.
“The (United) States is conducting a special operation to aggravate the situation around Ukraine while shifting the responsibility onto Russia,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was quoted as saying by Kommersant.
“It is based on provocative actions near Russia’s borders accompanied by accusatory rhetoric,” she said.
The United States, its NATO allies and Ukraine have accused Moscow of massing troops near the Ukrainian border, and Kiev says it fears Russia is planning an attack.
Moscow has denied any plans to invade Ukraine. It has said it can move troops around on Russian territory as it sees fit and that they pose no external threat.
U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday he is developing comprehensive initiatives to make it difficult for Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine and that he would not accept Moscow’s “red lines.”
The U.S. president and his Russian counterpart are reportedly due to hold a video call to discuss the rising tensions between Washington and Moscow. However, it remains unclear when the call is to take place.
Relations between Ukraine and Russia have been deteriorating since 2014, when the then-Ukrainian territory of Crimea voted in a referendum to fall under Russian sovereignty. The U.S. and the European Union-backed Kiev refused to recognize the referendum results, later imposing sanctions on Moscow.
Ukraine as well as the EU and the U.S. also claim Russia has a hand in an ongoing conflict that erupted in the Donbass region of Ukraine between government forces and ethnic Russians in 2014. The West imposed sanctions on Russia after accusing it of interfering in the conflict. Moscow denies the allegation.