Russia using false genocide claims as pretext for Ukraine invasion US warns
- Russian officials and media planted stories in the press that were ‘entirely untrue’, US says
- Russia says it has no plans to invade neighbour Ukraine, and has accused the West of hysteria
The United States warned on Wednesday that Russia could use false claims about the conflict in Ukraine’s Donbass region, including reports of mass graves and allegations of chemical weapons production, to justify an invasion of the former Soviet republic.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Washington was yet to see signs Russia was de-escalating tensions on its border with Ukraine.
Concern over a potential Russian invasion has not diminished and Russian forces were in fact moving into “fighting positions,” he said, despite Moscow’s assertion that it was moving some troops back to their bases.
Price said Russian officials and media had planted stories in the press that were “entirely untrue”.
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“[The stories being untrue] however has not stopped the Russians from advancing these false claims, to include reports of unmarked mass graves of civilians allegedly killed by Ukrainian armed forces, and statements that the United States or Ukraine are developing biological or chemical weapons … for use in the Russian-controlled territories,” Price told reporters at a regular press briefing.
He did not provide details, but the State Department last month published a fact sheet rebutting what it called Russian “disinformation,” linking to news stories that quoted Russian officials making similar statements.