Envoy rejects West's 'fake news' of Russian plan to invade Ukraine

The West has started an intelligence war against Moscow, says Russia’s ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov, adding that “not even one of Russia’s high-ranking representatives has ever said that Russia is going to attack any state.”

Antonov, referring to the allegation that Russia seeks to invade Ukraine, said on Wednesday that “all of this is fake news” and that he had continuously brought the issue up in his meetings with US officials.

“Bloomberg’s recent publication, when it was reported that Russia had already invaded Ukraine, stands out as an example of this unacceptable information campaign,” the diplomat said.

The Bloomberg news site posted a headline on Saturday reading “Russia invades Ukraine,” which stayed up for about 20 minutes before being taken down. The agency later admitted the error and apologized.

“It hardly was a provocation and this makes it clear how dangerous such tensions are, which have been triggered by daily aggressive statements that we keep hearing from Washington, European capitals, and London,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The White House and the Pentagon on Wednesday said Moscow was increasing its military presence near Ukraine, even though French President Emmanuel Macron in his visit to Moscow this week said Russian President Vladimir Putin had assured him there would be no “deterioration or escalation” in the stand-off.

SS