Plot to put pro-Russian leader in Ukraine: UK

Ukrainian ex-MP Yevhen Murayev is likely Kremlin candidate

London, Jan. 23: The UK government has taken the unusual step of making a formal statement to warn of a Russian plot to install a pro-Kremlin leader in Ukraine amid growing tensions in the region.

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) named former Ukrainian MP Yevhen Murayev as a potential Kremlin candidate and once again warned Russia of severe costs of activities to subvert Ukraine. The information being released today shines light on the extent of Russian activity designed to subvert Ukraine, and is an insight into Kremlin’s thinking, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement on Saturday.

Russia must de-escalate, end its campaigns of aggression and disinformation, and pursue a path of diplomacy. As the UK and our partners have said repeatedly, any Russian military incursion into Ukraine would be a massive

strategic mistake with severe costs, she said.

The former Ukrainian MP Yevhen Murayev is being considered as a potential candidate, while the Russian intelligence services maintain links with numerous former Ukrainian politicians: Serhiy

Arbuzov, First Deputy PM of Ukraine from

2012-2014, and acting PM in 2014; Andriy Kluyev, First Deputy PM from

2010-2012 and Chief of Staff to former Ukrainian President Yanukovich; Vladimir Sivkovich, former Deputy Head of the

Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council; and Mykola Azarov, PM of Ukraine from 2010-2014.

Some of them have contact with Russian intelligence officers currently involved in the planning for an attack on Ukraine, the FCDO said. —

— AP A convoy of Russian armoured vehicles moves along a highway in Crimea. They are participating in military drills that are alleged to be aimed at unsettling Ukraine.