Germany says Donbas evacuations could be Russian ‘fake news’

BERLIN

Germany on Friday claimed that reports of evacuations in Ukraine’s separatist regions could be Russia’s “fake news” and disinformation campaign.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told a panel at the Munich Security Conference that Russia’s intentions with massing nearly 150,000 troops around Ukraine is still not clear, but the situation is getting more and more dramatic.

“Russians are now evacuating women and children,” she said, referring to the recent controversial move by Ukraine’s separatist Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which claimed that Kyiv was planning a military operation.

“Fake news and also the danger of a false flag situation. This is really dramatic,” Baerbock cautioned.

“What I have heard now is that nobody wants to enter the buses, because nobody wants to be evacuated,” she added, casting doubts over recent reports from the regions, collectively known as Donbas.

The top German diplomat also commented on US intelligence warnings about a possibly imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“Actually I’m saying all the time. The scenario of a full invasion might be possible but I am not sure if this is really the most likely scenario,” she said, responding to a question.

“I would be more afraid that the most likely scenario is a false flag, or a coup, or also other things,” she argued, adding that Moscow could conduct covert operations to create chaos in Ukraine.

She also cautioned that Western countries should be prepared for such clandestine, hostile actions.

The US accused Russia on Friday of deploying additional troops to the Ukrainian border despite its announcement of a partial military withdrawal.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was no sign of Russian troop pullout.

“On the contrary, we see additional forces going to the border, including leading-edge forces, that would be part of any aggression,” he said.

Western countries have accused Russia of amassing more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine, prompting fears that it could be planning a military offensive against its ex-Soviet neighbor.

Moscow has repeatedly denied any plan to invade Ukraine and accused Western countries of undermining Russia’s security through NATO’s expansion toward its borders.

It also issued a list of security demands to the West, including a rollback of troop deployments from some ex-Soviet states and guarantees that Ukraine and Georgia would not join NATO.