Russian Foreign Intelligence claims Ukraine is preparing to attack Russians abroad

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service claimed in a statement released on Tuesday that Ukraine’s intelligence services were planning “a series of high-profile anti-Russian provocations” including attacks on Russian nationals abroad.

The Foreign Intelligence Service said that, among other things, the Ukrainian side was planning to use Russian-made naval mines to sink ships in the Baltic Sea in an attempt to blame the attack on Moscow. By doing so, the Foreign Intelligence Service continued, Kyiv was hoping that NATO would choose to block Russia’s access to the Baltic Sea.

Alleging without evidence that Ukrainian intelligence agencies were working closely with their European counterparts to organise attacks on members of Russia’s exiled political opposition, the Foreign Intelligence Service added that it believed the attacks would involve “people from Asian and Middle Eastern countries” who it said had been paid up to $20,000 (€19,350) by Ukrainian special services for their work.

The Foreign Intelligence Service said that the attacks being planned by Ukraine demonstrated that the so-called “Kyiv regime” would do “everything possible to prevent the peace process”.

There has not yet been any response to the claims from Kyiv. However, prominent Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin reacted to the statement on Tuesday, arguing that it should be considered as a direct threat from the Kremlin itself to opposition leaders abroad, and that he now expected the Kremlin would order the assassination of a Russian opposition figure and blame it on Ukraine.