Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Polish President Andrzej Duda attend a joint news conference with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Latvian President Egils Levits and Estonian President Alar Karis (not pictured) during Russia’s attack on Ukraine March 13. REUTERS /Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo
LONDON, April 28 – Russia’s foreign spy chief on Thursday accused the United States and Poland of planning a conspiracy to gain a sphere of influence in Ukraine, a claim dismissed by Warsaw as disinformation aimed at inciting distrust to sow among Kiev’s supporters.
Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service (SVR), cited unreleased intelligence that the United States and Poland, NATO allies, were planning to restore Polish control over part of western Ukraine.
“According to information obtained by the Russian foreign intelligence service, Washington and Warsaw are working on plans to establish Poland’s tight military and political control over its historical holdings in Ukraine,” Naryshkin said in a rare statement released by the SVR.
Poland dismissed the claim, saying it was disinformation spread by Moscow.
“The lies about Poland’s alleged plans to attack western Ukraine have been repeated for several years,” said Stanislaw Zaryn, spokesman for the coordinator of the Polish special services.
“The aim of Russian propaganda is to promote distrust between Ukraine and Poland and to undermine cooperation between the PL and the UA.”
Poland has ruled some territories that are now part of Ukraine at different times in the past, most recently between the two world wars. Western Ukraine, including the city of Lviv, was taken over by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II.
The SVR said the United States was discussing with Poland a plan under which Polish “peacekeeping forces” without a NATO mandate would invade parts of western Ukraine where there was little likelihood of a confrontation with Russian forces.
The SVR, which took over most of the Soviet-era KGB’s foreign espionage after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, did not release its evidence, and Reuters was unable to verify the allegation.
Poland is one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters in resisting the Russian invasion, sending arms across the border and taking in around three million Ukrainian refugees.
A senior Russian lawmaker, Senator Andrei Klimov, deputy chairman of the Federation Council’s foreign affairs committee, also said Thursday that Poland plans to seize control of part of Ukraine. He did not provide evidence for the claim.
Russia has been signaling for days that the conflict could end with a forced partition of Ukraine.
One of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies said this week that Ukraine was headed for a multi-state collapse over what he described as a US attempt to use Kyiv to undermine Russia. Continue reading
Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West see this as a false pretext for an unprovoked war of aggression by Putin.
Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge Edited by Gareth Jones and Bill Berkrot