Russia warns of "false flag" attack on U.S. diplomats

The Russian military claims it has uncovered a plot by Ukrainian hard-line nationalist groups to target diplomatic facilities of the US and other Western nations in the Ukrainian city of Lviv.

The alleged discovery was announced by Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov during a media briefing on Saturday.

Washington and many other Western states moved embassy staff to Lviv shortly before Russia launched its military attack, last month. The city, regarded as a hotbed of Ukrainian nationalism, is about 500km from the capital, Kiev, and just 50km from the Polish border.

The information on the supposed plot was provided by an officer from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), who Moscow says voluntary surrendered to Russian forces.

“The officer was directly involved in organizing and training of sabotage and terrorist groups to work in areas liberated from nationalists,” the official stated.

The officer gave the Russian military a list of SBU agents and other individuals involved in such activities, providing information on the alleged plot to target diplomatic facilities in the west of the country, Konashenkov claimed.

“The officer spoke… about [planned] terrorist acts in Lvov [the city’s Russian-language name] against employees and facilities of the diplomatic missions maintained by the US and other Western nations. I’d like to stress that the Kiev regime is fully aware of the plans harbored by the nationalists, but is doing nothing to prevent them,” Konashenkov stated.

The ultimate goal of the alleged attacks is to blame Moscow for them, using the incidents as leverage to push the NATO countries into providing more weaponry and establishing a long-demanded “no-fly zone” over the country, the official claimed...

Russia has now demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the NATO military bloc.