U.K. says Russia plotting to put pro-Kremlin leader in Kyiv

The U.K. says it has information that Moscow is plotting to install a pro-Russian leader in Kyiv, as fears of an invasion of Ukraine persist.

The assertions, offered without a timeline on the intelligence, were contained in a U.K. Foreign Office statement Saturday as tensions over Russian activity around Ukraine continue to build.

Yevhen Murayev, a former Ukrainian member of parliament, is a potential candidate, according to the statement. In Washington, a National Security Council spokeswoman called the alleged plotting “deeply concerning.” President Joe Biden also met with his national security team on Saturday to discuss continued Russian aggression toward Ukraine, according to a White House official.

The U.K. said it had information that the Russian intelligence services maintain links with “numerous” former Ukrainian politicians. It mentioned four by name who are already subject to Western sanctions. The men, who left Ukraine in 2014, are believed to reside in Russia.

The assertions precede a U.K. drive to ramp up pressure on Russia, with the defense and foreign secretaries set to travel to Europe for talks. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will schedule calls with Group of Seven leaders next week to finalize additional sanctions on backers of President Vladimir Putin, according to U.K. government officials.

“Russia must de-escalate, end its campaigns of aggression and disinformation, and pursue a path of diplomacy,” U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in the statement. “Any Russian military incursion into Ukraine would be a massive strategic mistake with severe costs.”

At the meeting Saturday, Biden was briefed on Russia’s military operations along the Ukrainian border and discussed the range of options for the U.S. and its allies, the White House official said.

“President Biden again affirmed that should Russia further invade Ukraine, the United States will impose swift and severe consequences on Russia with our allies and partners,” the official said.

Last week, the U.S. said Russian actors were preparing potential sabotage operations against their own forces and fabricating provocations on social media to justify an invasion into Ukraine.

U.S. military aid started arriving in Ukraine on Friday “in the face of growing Russian aggression,” the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said on Twitter. The U.K. is also sending supplies.

After the statement from London, Emily Horne, spokeswoman for President Joe Biden’s National Security Council, said the U.S. stands “with our democratically-elected partners in Ukraine.”

“This kind of plotting is deeply concerning,” she said in a statement.

Diplomatic standoff

Russia has assembled a large armed force on its border with Ukraine and sent troops and armor to Belarus, to Ukraine’s north, for joint military drills scheduled to begin Feb. 10.

Moscow has repeatedly denied that it has any intentions to invade.

A meeting in Geneva led by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov didn’t yield an agreement, though both sides agreed to continue talks. Aides to Ukrainian, Russian, German and French leaders will probably meet in Paris for talks on Jan. 26.

The four former Ukrainian officials named by the U.K. are Serhiy Arbuzov, Mykola Azarov, Andriy Kluyev and Volodymyr Sivkovych.

Azarov was prime minister from 2010 to 2014, Arbuzov is a former first deputy prime minister, and Kluyev is a former chief of staff.

All three were allies of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was toppled after deadly street protests and fled to Russia in 2014. At that point they had their assets blocked over Russian actions in Ukraine, and are still challenging the move in international courts.

The fourth, Sivkovych, was sanctioned Thursday by the U.S., which said he was among “pawns” working with Russia’s spy agencies to destabilize Ukraine.

The Kremlin, which backed Yanukovych, annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and stoked a military conflict in the country’s two easternmost regions, which has claimed more than 14,000 lives.