FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES

Russia Plotting to Install Pro-Kremlin Regime in Ukraine, U.K. Says

Russian intelligence officials as well as former Ukrainian officials who fled to Moscow hatched the plan together, according to U.K. intelligence.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin has hatched a plot to overthrow the current government of Ukraine and install in its place a Kremlin-friendly regime, diplomats from the United Kingdom said late Saturday. Russian intelligence officials as well as former Ukrainian officials who fled to Moscow hatched the plan together, according to U.K. intelligence. British foreign secretary Liz Truss said in a statement, “The information being released today shines a light on the extent of Russian activity designed to subvert Ukraine, and is an insight into Kremlin thinking.” Russia currently has more than 100,000 troops massed at its border with Ukraine. In talks with U.S. diplomats, it has demanded that the former Soviet nation never be allowed to join NATO.