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Accusing Russia of aggression against Ukraine groundless, says intel chief

Sergey Naryshkin stressed that there were no and had never been any plans of invasion

MOSCOW, February 10. /TASS/. Accusing Russia of aggressive plans concerning Ukraine is groundless, there are no and have never been any plans of invasion, Director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Sergey Naryshkin told the Moskovskij Komsomolets newspaper on Thursday.

"The accusations of aggressive plans against Ukraine are groundless. There are no and have never been any plans of invasion. Everything that is happening is a well-orchestrated provocation. And we know who is behind this, we see the means by which this malicious and very dangerous lie continues to multiply," the intelligence chief said.

Speaking about the reasons why Russia and Ukraine fail to restore good neighborly relations, Naryshkin pointed to "the unwillingness of the Kiev leadership, which came to power during the 2014 coup, to negotiate." "It seems that the president, as well as the [Verkhovna] Rada, cannot make independent decisions," the intelligence chief mentioned.

According to Naryshkin, it seems that Kiev "is obediently following the lead of nationalists and its Western mentors." "And both of them are forcing the head of state, Vladimir Zelensky, to finally abandon the Minsk agreements and unleash military operations in Donbass. What is the goal? I think, to destroy the Donbass republics. And all this also aimed at drawing Russia into the Ukrainian conflict," he emphasized.