The United States accuses Russia of fabricating a pretext to invade Ukraine

The US State Department said on Wednesday that Russia tries to create a “pretext” to invade Ukrainethrough unsubstantiated claims about a “genocide” and the presence of mass graves in the Donbas region (east).

This week Russian media published articles and photographs of alleged mass graves in donbasa region controlled by Moscow-aligned separatists who have fought Ukrainian forces since 2014.

On Tuesday, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin accused Kiev of committing “genocide” in Donbas.

State Department spokesman, ned pricealleges that Moscow made those claims as an excuse to invade Ukraine.

“Over the course of several weeks, we have also seen Russian officials and Russian media publish numerous articles in the press, any of which could serve as a pretext for an invasion,” He said Price.

These accusations, also spread on social networks, include genocide, mass graves and the possibility that the Ukrainian government uses chemical weapons against the population of Donbas.

“There is no basis of truth for any of these claims”Price insisted.

Price recalled that before the Russian invasion of the Ukrainian region of crimeaIn 2014, Moscow also accused Kiev of persecuting people in the region, many of whom speak Russian.

At the White House, Press Secretary Jen Psaki dismissed Moscow’s accusations as trickery. “We are at a point where we believe that an attack could come at any moment, and that it would be preceded by a fabricated pretext,” she added Psaki.

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