Moscow trying to install puppet leader in Ukraine, warns Britain

Britain’s foreign office has cited evidence that several former politicians had maintained links with Russian intelligence services.

‘The Ukrainians will fight this’: Civilians receive combat training in Kiev on Saturday. Thousands of citizens would be called up if Russia invades. Picture: Getty Images

Britain has alleged it had information that Moscow was “looking to install a pro-Russian leader in Kiev” as fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine grow.

London said on Sunday it had seen evidence that several former Ukrainian politicians had maintained links with Russian intelligence services, and that former MP Yevgen Murayev was being considered as a potential leader.

Some of those in contact with Russian intelligence officers were “currently involved in the planning for an attack on Ukraine”, the Foreign Office said in a statement, though it did not release details of the evidence.

The accusations came at the end of a week of intense international diplomacy, which concluded with Antony Blinken and Sergei Lavrov, Washington and Moscow’s top diplomats, agreeing to keep working to ease tensions.

Tens of thousands of Russian troops are massed on Ukraine’s border, along with an arsenal of tanks, fighting vehicles, artillery and missiles.

Mr Murayev lost his seat in the Ukrainian parliament when his party failed to win 5 per cent of the vote in 2019 elections. He is considered to be an owner of TV station Nash, which regulators have been seeking to shut down since last year, accusing it of airing pro-Russian propaganda. The other four politicians named by the UK were Mykola Azarov, Sergiy Arbuzov, Andriy Kluyev and Volodymyr Sivkovich.

Yevgen Murayev.

Mr Azarov served as prime minister under pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovych. Both fled Kiev for Russia following the 2014 uprising in Ukraine that toppled a government that had rejected pressure to move the country closer to the West.

Mr Sivkovich, a former deputy secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council, was sanctioned by the US last week for allegedly working with Russian intelligence.

Mr Arbuzov and Mr Kluyev both served as deputy prime minister under Mr Yanukovych.

“The information being released today shines a light on the extent of Russian activity designed to subvert Ukraine, and is an insight into Kremlin thinking,” said Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

“Russia must de-escalate, end its campaigns of aggression and disinformation, and pursue a path of diplomacy.”

In Washington, US National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne said: “This kind of plotting is deeply concerning.

“The Ukrainian people have the sovereign right to determine their own future, and we stand with our democratically elected partners in Ukraine.”

The claims came hours after a senior UK defence source said that Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had accepted an invitation to meet his British counterpart, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, to discuss the crisis.

“Given the last defence bilateral between our two countries took place in London in 2013, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has offered to meet in Moscow instead,” the source said.

Fears of a Russian invasion have been growing for months and a spokeswoman said on Tuesday the White House now believed an attack could come “at any point”. Few military experts believe that Kiev’s smaller forces – although rapidly modernising – could repel an outright Russian invasion. But Ms Truss warned in Sydney on Friday that Moscow still risked becoming embroiled in a “terrible quagmire” if it invaded. “The Ukrainians will fight this,” she warned.

Russia has put pressure on Ukraine since the 2014 uprising, Moscow seized the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and a few weeks later a pro-Russian insurgency broke out in eastern Ukraine that has since claimed more than 13,000 lives.

Britain is among a handful of Western nations rushing lethal weapons – like anti-tank missiles – to Ukraine, dramatically increasing the prospect of Russian casualties. But Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Saturday condemned Germany for its refusal to supply weapons to Kiev, urging Berlin to stop “undermining unity” and “encouraging Vladimir Putin”.

The head of Germany’s navy later resigned following controversial remarks on the crisis. Vice-Admiral Kay-Achim Schoenbach said the idea that Russia wanted to invade Ukraine was “nonsense”, adding that Mr Putin deserved respect, in comments at a think-tank meeting in New Delhi on Friday.

AFP