Washington: Russia is laying the groundwork for the annexation of Ukrainian territory and is installing illegitimate proxy officials, the White House said, as President Volodymyr Zelensky fired another top security official and Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first public trip outside the former Soviet Union since the invasion.
Unveiling what he said was US intelligence, John Kirby, the chief National Security Council spokesman, told a White House news briefing on Tuesday (US time) that the Russians are preparing to install proxy officials, establish the rouble as the default currency and force residents to apply for citizenship.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi prior to their talks in Tehran.Credit:AP
“We have information today, including from downgraded intelligence that we’re able to share with you, about how Russia is laying the groundwork to annex Ukrainian territory that it controls in direct violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty,” Kirby said.
It is the same tactic used in 2014 when Russia announced its annexation of Crimea after taking control of it from Ukraine, Kirby said. The international community considers Crimea’s annexation illegitimate.
“We want to make it plain to the American people,” Kirby said. “Nobody is fooled by it. [Russian President Vladimir Putin] is dusting off the playbook from 2014.”
Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24 in what it calls a “special military operation” to ensure its own security.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden greet Olena Zelenska, spouse of Ukrainian’s President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Tuesday.Credit:AP
Russia is now also attempting to take control of broadcasting towers, he said.
At the same time, Kirby said the United States in the next few days will announce a new weapons package for Ukraine as it engages Russia in fierce battles in eastern Ukraine.
It will be the 16th such drawdown of money approved by Congress and allocated under presidential authority, he said.
The package is expected to include US mobile rocket launchers, known as HIMARS, and rounds for Multiple Launch Rocket Systems as well as artillery munitions.
The United States has provided $8 billion in security assistance since the war began, including $US2.2 billion in the last month.
Washington will impose sanctions on officials involved in representing themselves as proxy officials, Kirby said. He predicted these proxies to try to hold “sham referenda” seeking to legitimatize Russian control.
Ukraine’s parliament dismissed the domestic security chief and prosecutor general on Tuesday, two days after President Volodymyr Zelensky suspended them for failing to root out Russian spies.
Ivan Bakanov was fired from his position at the helm of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) by a comfortable majority, several lawmakers said on the Telegram messaging app.
The head of Zelensky’s political faction said Iryna Venediktova had also been voted out as prosecutor general.
Zelensky later announced he had fired one of the SBU’s deputy heads but gave no details. In a late night video address, he also said he had appointed five new regional SBU directors.
In a statement published on Telegram minutes before his dismissal was confirmed, Bakanov said “miscalculations” had been made during his tenure, but that he was proud of his record.
Vladimir Putin met Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Tuesday, stressing closer ties in the face of Western pressure over the war in Ukraine, as Russian forces struck more targets across the country.
During his Iran visit Putin also met Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to discuss a deal that would resume Ukraine’s Black Sea grain exports, now blockaded by Russia. Putin said that not all the issues had been resolved yet on grain shipments, “but the fact that there is movement is already good.”
It was Putin’s first in-person meeting with a NATO leader since Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24 and was a pointed message to the West about Russian plans to forge closer strategic ties with Iran, China and India to help offset Western sanctions imposed over the invasion.
The trip shows how isolated Russia has become, said White House national security spokesman John Kirby.
Kirby also said the United States was preparing to unveil another weapons package for Ukraine. Citing US intelligence, he accused Russia of laying the groundwork to annex Ukrainian territory.
In Moscow, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said that any peace in Ukraine would be the way Moscow wanted it.
“Russia will achieve all its goals. There will be peace – on our terms,” said Medvedev, who is now deputy head of the Kremlin’s Security Council.
Reuters
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