US has 18 punitive scenarios if Russia invades Ukraine: Sr. diplomat

US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland has claimed that Washington has prepared 18 response scenarios to confront alleged Russian plans to “invade” Ukraine amid the persisting Western publicity campaign against Moscow.

"I would simply say that our commitment and the conversation that we have with our allies is around inflicting very sharp pain very fast, if Russia makes this move in any form," Nuland boasted as quoted in a Saturday report by Sputnik News.

The senior diplomat, however, refused to elaborate about the details of the proclaimed scenarios but vowed that Washington and its Western allies were prepared to “inflict high costs on Russia” if it acts aggressively, according to the report.

Nuland further claimed that specific sanctions imposed against Russia by the US and its European allies in the NATO military alliance might be different, noting that some things are not as easy to do for the Europeans as they are for the US and vice versa.

She also went on to comment about the recent talks between the US and Russia on January 10, saying that Washington believes the path to a diplomatic resolution of the ongoing tensions remains open and praising the discussions as the first step.

The official further asserted that the US and Russia had "heard each other out" during the talks, but insisted that reaching an agreement will "need more time." She then noted that the White House is currently working on a written response to Russian representatives on the results of the talks, without elaborating.

"We believe that we can de-escalate and we can make some progress on some of these things through diplomacy,” she added. “We hope and expect that with some of the ideas that we put on the table, Moscow will stay at the table, but that’s Putin’s choice."

The development came as Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed as "unfounded" Western media reports accusing Russia of preparing a provocation to invade Ukraine amid escalating tensions between Moscow and Washington.

US news agencies cited an American official as saying earlier on Friday that US President Joe Biden's administration believes Moscow is planning a "false flag" operation in eastern Ukraine to justify an invasion of the country. The US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, further claimed that Russian operatives were already in position and Moscow had started conducting a social media disinformation campaign.

"Russian influence actors are already starting to fabricate Ukrainian provocations in state and social media to justify a Russian intervention and sow divisions in Ukraine," the official claimed.

Russia’s TASS news agency reported Peskov as insisting, however, that the American accusations were based on "unfounded" information, adding that Moscow has previously dismissed claims of invading Ukraine.

American officials also warned Russia on Friday that if it escalates the Ukrainian security crisis, the US may refer the matter to the UN Security Council.

ME