US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday accused Russia of laying groundwork to justify an attack on Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden on Thursday told reporters “We have reason to believe they (Russia) are engaged in a false flag operation to have an excuse to go in,” BBC reported.
Blinken spoke at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Thursday. Blinken told the Security Council “Moscow was likely to try to generate a pretext for the war, which could be a fabricated terrorist bombing inside Russia, the invented discovery of a mass grave or a staged drone strike,” CNN reported.
Blinken claimed in the aftermath of such incidents, Russia would “theatrically convene” an emergency meeting on the need to protect ethnic Russians in Ukraine and commence attacks on military targets as well as cyber attacks.
He declared, “Russia may describe this event as ethnic cleansing or a genocide, making a mockery of a concept that we in this chamber do not take lightly.”
He refuted Russian criticism of the US warnings, stating that the information had been validated by Russia's steady build-up of troops on its border with Ukraine.
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European members of the Security Council France, Ireland, Albania and Norway, joined by Germany, Estonia and the European Union delegation echoed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' urgent call to resolve the Ukraine crisis through diplomacy and called for full implementation of the Minsk Agreements starting with the ceasefire.
Russian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergey Vershinin, who spoke at the Security Council meeting before Blinken, rubbished Western fears of an invasion. “We have long ago clarified everything and explained everything. And the announced date of this so-called invasion is behind us, so therefore... my advice to you is [to] not present yourself in an awkward situation,” Vershinin was quoted as saying by CNN.
Meanwhile, The White House said Biden is expected to hold a telephonic conversation with leaders of 'transatlantic' nations on Friday afternoon (US time) about the Russian build-up near Ukraine.