MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/. Washington was planning to involve France and Great Britain in the deployment of NATO military bases along the entire line of engagement back two years ago, a senior official at the Lugansk People’s Republic’s Interior Ministry said on Monday.

NATO bases were to be deployed in Severodonetsk and Lisichansk as well as in "Popasnaya and Mariupol, or along the entire line of engagement," aide to the LPR interior minister Vitaly Kisilev said on Channel One television.

"We had this information about Washington being behind the plans involving the French and the British," he said. Great Britain was supposed to be in charge of Mariupol, while France and Poland would have taken on roles in Severodonetsk and Lisichansk, he added.

Kiselev said the military bases and strongholds built to NATO standards showed that the alliance was busy prepping for attacks and mop-up operations in the two Donbass republics, with the Donetsk People’s Republic being a priority target and plans to destroy the LPR "by a couple of strikes".