On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Kiev was committing genocide in eastern Ukraine. Also known as Donbass, this region is home to pro-Russian separatists who have been waging war against the government army since 2014.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price says Moscow claims these allegations have a motive for invading Ukraine. “Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen Russian officials spread countless stories in the media that could serve as a pretext for an invasion,” Price said. The allegations were also widely circulated on social media in Russia, according to the ministry’s information.

Earlier this month, according to the Americans, a fake video of the genocide in Ukraine was published. At the time, the intelligence services also spoke of a “very large-scale plot”. Even real corpses were to be used to depict battle casualties and the actors would play mourners.

calm down

US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Schulz want Russia to take measures to ease tensions over Ukraine. The world leaders say there are no indications that Moscow is serious about withdrawing its forces from the Ukrainian border.

Schultz visited Moscow this week and later called the US president to catch up. “The risk of further military aggression by Russia against Ukraine is high,” the German government said in a statement. I made it clear once again that Moscow could count on “serious consequences” if it invaded Ukraine.

Russia has already sent troops to the border with that neighboring country. Moscow says it feels threatened by NATO expansion and wants guarantees that Ukraine cannot join the alliance. Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated after a meeting with Schulz that he still saw opportunities for diplomacy. Biden and Schultz applaud that.

The Russian authorities themselves say that they are already withdrawing their forces from the border. They published pictures showing tanks and other military vehicles leaving. This led to critical reactions at the international level. The United States warned that the build-up of forces would continue.