The head of the Russian Defense Ministry accused the United States of coordinating the “secret operation” that Kyiv is preparing against Russia.
Two weeks ago, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin received “an unusual request from an unexpected person”: his Russian counterpart Andrei Belousov wanted to talk. Despite official statements from defense departments regarding the content of the conversation, it later became known from informed sources that Belousov accused the United States of collusion with Ukraine regarding the preparation of a “secret operation” against Russia.
The New York Times writes about this.
Belousov told the head of the Pentagon that the Russians had found evidence of Ukraine preparing a “secret operation” against the Russian Federation and were confident that it had been approved by the Americans. The Russian minister warned that such actions by the Americans could increase tensions between Moscow and Washington.
The publication's sources emphasized that Pentagon officials were surprised by this accusation because they did not know about any such collusion. The sources declined to disclose details of the alleged covert operation that Belousov spoke of, but noted that the US took it so seriously that it contacted the Ukrainians and said: “if you are thinking of doing something like this, don't do it.”
The author of the article notes that, despite Ukraine's deep dependence on the United States for military, intelligence and diplomatic support, Ukrainian officials do not always disclose plans for their military operations to their American colleagues, especially against Russian targets behind enemy lines.
Russian President Vladimir Putin often refers to such operations as “terrorist attacks,” and the Kremlin uses them as “evidence” for its narrative of invading Ukraine to “defend Russia.” And while the United States has always denied any involvement in or even knowledge of such Ukrainian operations, Russian officials have publicly insisted that such strikes could not have happened without the approval and support of the United States.
“Whether this month's alleged Ukrainian collusion was real and imminent is unclear, as well as what form it might have taken. Pentagon and White House officials say nothing happened—yet. They declined to elaborate. describe the call, but noted the need for dialogue between opponents,” noted the author of the article.
According to the publication's sources, Lloyd Austin in a conversation warned his Russian counterpart against threats to American troops in Europe amid growing tensions in Ukraine.
Approximately four days later, the US military raised the alert level at military bases in Europe in response to vague Kremlin threats regarding Ukraine's use of long-range weapons on Russian soil.
Recall that ISW explained why the Russian Defense Minister called the head of the Pentagon. Belousov used the phone call with Austin to repeat Russian threats and try to force the US to withdraw its support for Ukraine.
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